Prasenjit Kundu: Pioneering Workforce Solutions For Indian Manufacturing Sector
Prasenjit Kundu
CEO
During a personal interview, Prasenjit Kundu provided valuable insights into the company's operations and its global impact, highlighting how they empowers individuals worldwide through upskilling and professional development.
Can you provide a concise overview of your career journey and the driving force behind your daily routines?
I consider myself an intrapreneur. Graduated with Mechanical Engineering from IIT-Kharagpur and technology remains my core passion. Subsequent PGDBM from IIM-Calcutta and further learnings only fueled my appetite for a transformative journey. Over the past 30 years, through progressive senior-level positions in ITC, Coca-Cola India, Mahindra Satyam (later became Tech Mahindra) worked across India and globally in Malaysia, UK, Bahrain and Australia and through multiple industries, including manufacturing, FMCG, ICT and manpower solutions. During my association with Mahindra Satyam, as their Malaysia Country head, set up a large global solution centre from scratch. This was a turning point, where we engaged with twelve Malaysian Universities and their graduates to turn them into successful Global ICT Consultants. At the end of 18 months in Malaysia,
we had 600+ Consultants, mostly Malaysian Graduates, serving Global customers. This rapid success triggered a deep interest in ‘People development’. Post Satyam collapse, transitioned full time to ‘learning ecosystem’ towards delivering social impacts in School Education and Skilling ecosystem, building alternative school education pedagogy towards reducing ‘learning poverty’. I worked with the University of Melbourne as their ‘Emerging leaders’ fellow’ and supported establishing India engagement strategy for Australian TVET players. Took over as India Head of SkillSonics in January 2018.
Share with us your academic experience from IIT Kharagpur. What did you learn from the campus beyond academics?
In simple terms, I attribute my personal and professional values to two of my alma maters. One is my higher secondary study in the Narendrapur Ramkrishna Mission, Kolkata and then B.Tech in IIT Kharagpur. These institutions have played a pivotal role in shaping who I am today. The Kharagpur campus provided not only academic knowledge par excellence but also versatile life skills across a wide canvas. The institute also fostered enduring friendships that connect me everyday with fellow alumni across India and the globe. In short, IIT Kharagpur equipped me with the ability to face the future and solve complex challenges.
Define SkillSonics as an organization and its position in the market.
India is emerging as a Globel manufacturing hub, augmented by favorable Government policies and the China+1 strategy by global corporations. The biggest pain for both greenfield and brownfield manufacturing capacity augmentation is the unavailability of a skilled and sticky workforce. We offer end-to-end solutions pan-India basis for workforce scaling, from mobilization to screening and upskilling, making us a rapidly growing player in the market. SkillSonics caters to diverse
Superior client experience is driven by agile and cross-functional collaboration by all personnel, from program managers to domain experts and leveraging a single knowledge management platform
Share with us your academic experience from IIT Kharagpur. What did you learn from the campus beyond academics?
In simple terms, I attribute my personal and professional values to two of my alma maters. One is my higher secondary study in the Narendrapur Ramkrishna Mission, Kolkata and then B.Tech in IIT Kharagpur. These institutions have played a pivotal role in shaping who I am today. The Kharagpur campus provided not only academic knowledge par excellence but also versatile life skills across a wide canvas. The institute also fostered enduring friendships that connect me everyday with fellow alumni across India and the globe. In short, IIT Kharagpur equipped me with the ability to face the future and solve complex challenges.
Define SkillSonics as an organization and its position in the market.
India is emerging as a Globel manufacturing hub, augmented by favorable Government policies and the China+1 strategy by global corporations. The biggest pain for both greenfield and brownfield manufacturing capacity augmentation is the unavailability of a skilled and sticky workforce. We offer end-to-end solutions pan-India basis for workforce scaling, from mobilization to screening and upskilling, making us a rapidly growing player in the market. SkillSonics caters to diverse
Manufacturing industries, spanning from capital goods, and electronic assembly to automobile, textiles, food technology, metal processing and precision manufacturing sectors. We also have sub-verticals for Institutional engagement and Government skilling ecosystem engagement, accounting for less than 20 percent of our top line.
As the CEO, what aspects do you consider while formulating successful corporate growth strategies for the organization?
We leverage our global know-how access and panIndia network to deliver high-outcome solutions.The growth of India’s manufacturing sector demands quick and reliable solutions under a single umbrella. We connect manpower surplus east and central India to resource-hungry south and west. We focus on augmenting manufacturing capacity through workforce solutions for Industry 4.0 technologies. Our ‘Zero Capex’ strategy, leveraging distributed existing training physical infrastructure (which is typically underutilized), enables us to offer scaled capacity building for client organizations. However, all quality toll gates in the value chain are fully owned by us. Our flexibility and agility, along with a commitment to quality, differentiate us in the market. We have become a preferred partner for India's Top 100 manufacturing organizations and have trebled our topline post-COVID. Looking ahead, we aim to further expand our growth by 6x in the next three years.
Where do you see yourself heading in the future?
We aim to become the most preferred ‘workforce builder’ for India's manufacturing industry, maintaining our singular focus on hard technical skills. Today, we get invited to be a partner in new manufacturing investments or up skilling plans by corporations. Our goal is to achieve the number one position in the industry, not only in size but in the quantum of value added as well. We see tremendous growth opportunities ahead, and we believe we can comfortably expand 10 to 15 times in the next five years. Additionally, we have just piloted through our Edtech platform offering high-quality skilling programs directly to engineering students. We augment access to our emerging technology modules for the future citizens of our country.
Prasenjit Kundu, CEO, SkillSonics
Prasenjit Kundu, a CXO with a passion for social enterprise development. IIT-Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta alumnus, Emerging Leaders’ Fellow University of Melbourne, Harvard Business School MDP, leading SkillSonics India, introducing Swiss Vocational Education in January 2018.
As the CEO, what aspects do you consider while formulating successful corporate growth strategies for the organization?
We leverage our global know-how access and panIndia network to deliver high-outcome solutions.The growth of India’s manufacturing sector demands quick and reliable solutions under a single umbrella. We connect manpower surplus east and central India to resource-hungry south and west. We focus on augmenting manufacturing capacity through workforce solutions for Industry 4.0 technologies. Our ‘Zero Capex’ strategy, leveraging distributed existing training physical infrastructure (which is typically underutilized), enables us to offer scaled capacity building for client organizations. However, all quality toll gates in the value chain are fully owned by us. Our flexibility and agility, along with a commitment to quality, differentiate us in the market. We have become a preferred partner for India's Top 100 manufacturing organizations and have trebled our topline post-COVID. Looking ahead, we aim to further expand our growth by 6x in the next three years.
Where do you see yourself heading in the future?
We aim to become the most preferred ‘workforce builder’ for India's manufacturing industry, maintaining our singular focus on hard technical skills. Today, we get invited to be a partner in new manufacturing investments or up skilling plans by corporations. Our goal is to achieve the number one position in the industry, not only in size but in the quantum of value added as well. We see tremendous growth opportunities ahead, and we believe we can comfortably expand 10 to 15 times in the next five years. Additionally, we have just piloted through our Edtech platform offering high-quality skilling programs directly to engineering students. We augment access to our emerging technology modules for the future citizens of our country.
Prasenjit Kundu, CEO, SkillSonics
Prasenjit Kundu, a CXO with a passion for social enterprise development. IIT-Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta alumnus, Emerging Leaders’ Fellow University of Melbourne, Harvard Business School MDP, leading SkillSonics India, introducing Swiss Vocational Education in January 2018.