Bengaluru, August 23rd, 2021: Home interior solutions company Design Cafe, announced a one-of-its-kind initiative: ‘Ujjivan’ – that aims to reskill or upskill 2,000 blue collar workers across the country by 2023, to deal with the rapidly changing times. 

In December 2019, 400-blue collar workers from 15+ states across India joined Design Cafe to work in its state-of-the-art factory. Initially, the initiative started as a regular expansion-related activity to grow the company’s business, has now evolved into an initiative that has impacted thousands of lives by providing them financial stability and security.

                                 India’s blue-collar workers are estimated to be at around 300 million, who suffer from a lack of structured training programs and access to resources, which has led to non-payment of over 120 million workers across industries, during the lockdown.  With this in mind, Design Cafe, through Ujjivan, has aimed to upskill the blue-collar workforce in India by employing a large number of them at its factories. These workers, (with most of them being carpenters with rudimentary skill-sets), are trained to operate and handle machines and in assembly and packaging of products, so that each piece of furniture delivered to the end customer matches the brand standards.

Speaking on the initiative Gita Ramanan, CEO & Co-Founder, Design Cafe said, “Professional development is important for the growth and financial stability of every human being. Cognizant of the changing landscape around us over the last two years, we have fast-tracked our initiative: Ujjivan, to better the lives of these blue-collar workers who belong to various states of India, by improving their lives with financial stability and security. Apart from providing them Provident Fund (PF) every month, we also provided Covid insurance to all of them during the pandemic for their safety and wellbeing. Ujjivan further aims to raise the living standards across the company’s value-chain, create opportunities through inclusivity, and prepare people for the future of work. In the years to come, this initiative will grow to create jobs for the blue-collar workforce across the country and stay on course with its efforts.”