‘Skilled in Odisha’ to go global with Tim Kobe’s touch

‘Skilled in Odisha’ is on its way to earn a global tag with the state government mulling a tie-up with designer and innovation leader Tim Kobe, sources say. Founder and chief executive officer of Eight Inc, Kobe is the person behind the original concept of Apple stores and counts multinationals such as Nike, Citibank, Tesla, Coke and Virgin Atlantic as his key clients.

“We are trying to showcase Odisha as the most happening hub for skilled manpower. Kobe is scheduled to visit Bhubaneswar on April 29 when we are hosting Odisha Skills 2018, our skills competition. We will seek his guidance on how to make Skilled in Odisha a global brand,” said an official said.

Kobe aside, Odisha’s list of invitees for its Skills 2018 meet includes the country director of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and CEO of Institute of Technical Education, Singapore (ITES).

To give a brand identity to the ‘Skilled in Odisha’ campaign of the state government, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently unveiled a logo and the Bhubaneswar Skill City Map. To ensure quality skilltraining standards and sustained employability of trained youth, the state government had formed the Odisha Skilled Development Authority (OSDA) in 2016 with Subroto Bagchi, co-founder of information technology (IT) firm Mindtree, as its chairman.

This agency guides, implements, coordinates and oversees all skill development programmes in the state with a goal to provide a skilled workforce comparable to best in the world.

Bagchi refused a comment on the possible collaboration with Kobe for branding ‘Skilled in Odisha’.

Odisha Skills is the statelevel chapter of the India Skill Competition organised by the National Skill Development Corporation and the Union Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. Odisha Skills 2018 will be the first of its kind state-level skill competition organised by the state government.

The opening ceremony of the event will be held in Cuttack on Saturday followed by the second day of the competition in Bhubaneswar.

The event has witnessed participation of nearly 7,000 participants from across the state competing in six sectors and 25 skills from the state at the preliminary stage. The skill competitions will be performed and demonstrated live in front of audience for the first time in the state.Global advertising giant Leo Burnett is spearheading Odisha's campaign to make ‘Skilled in Odisha’ a global brand, following the state government's decision to avail of its services.

The creative agency is tasked with brand strategy, preparing brand manual and coming up with a communication plan to help achieve the goals of OSDA.The state government has set a target to provide employable skills to 0.63 million youths in 2018-19. More, the government has set a target to train 1.1 million youths by 2019-20.