Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg acknowledges partnership with EDII

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg on Thursday acknowledged that Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), based out of Ahmedabad, will be one of its key partners in providing digital training in India.

Speaking about partnerships with institutes, including EDII, to implement the digital training program in the country, Sandberg stated in her post that Facebook is proud to partner with  Digital Vidya,  Startup India,  Dharma Life, and  Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmedabad  to make these online programs come to life.

"By working together, we can give more people access to great jobs that help them support their families and communities," Sandberg stated.

Facebook  and EDII joined hands for the implementation of Facebook's 'Boost Your Business' programme in 22 states and 1000 cities of India in In July 2017.

The program aims to train 20,000 micro, small and medium entrepreneurs of which 7500 will be from Gujarat.

Speaking about the importance of digital marketing for small entrepreneurs, Sandberg reiterated the Social Networking Giant's commitment to skilling small businesses in India digitally by 2020.

"From the US to Australia, we've started training programs around the world so people get the skills they need to thrive in the digital world. Today we're launching programs in India that will teach online classes to people in both English and Hindi over three years in subjects like social media marketing.
These practical skills are crucial," she stated.

"Almost 95% of small businesses in India say that digital and social media skills are important when hiring someone – in fact, they're more important than where someone went to school," Sandberg stated.