Kunwer Sachdev, the managing director of Su-Kam, an Indian company which manufactures solar technology, talks to The National about the challenges when it comes to finding skilled employees in India for the renewables industry.
Is India trying to skill workers for the renewable energy sector?
The government of India has launched the Skill India mission which aims to train over 400 million people in India in different skills by 2022. Various schemes have been launched to further the aim of skill development. The objective is to enable a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood. India’s economy is a growing economy and renewable energy is going to be a big contributor to it.
To what extent are these schemes successful?
The intent of our prime minister Narendra Modi and the government is very good behind all these initiatives, but the bureaucratic setup of the government hinders the interaction between the industry and the skilling institutions. Due to this there is a huge gap in the available and the required skill pool. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, employment opportunities in India’s renewable energy sector will almost double by 2022. The report also noted that renewable energy employment continues to shift towards Asian countries.
How could this be improved?
In my opinion, the coursework should be industry focused and the percentage practical trainings should be more than just theoretical work.
How to you manage the situation of this lack of human resources?
As an organisation, we skill and train our people regularly. I must say that we have worked in skilling many people that are part of the existing solar industry. Training needs to be continuous and upgraded from time to time as we keep hiring new talent that requires frequent training, since there is a dearth of talented manpower.
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What are the other challenges you face in the solar industry?
The training costs are high, since the attrition rate for skilled people is high - because the demand is much more than the existing number of skilled workers. Companies do not have enough trained manpower that understands the needs of the customer and the technology of the sector, and this may lead to providing solutions that may not be the right ones.
What is the potential of the renewable energy sector in India?
India has huge potential for the renewable energy sector. We are working hard on developing solar products and technologies suitable, viable and workable for conditions that are uniquely Indian or for all developing and under developed countries. We need to understand that Europe has made huge progress in the field but their products are not suitable for our country due to various reasons like storage solutions, power voltage and frequency fluctuations this range is very wide and different in rural and urban conditions, power availability.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
About Okadoc
Date started: Okadoc, 2018
Founder/CEO: Fodhil Benturquia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Healthcare
Size: (employees/revenue) 40 staff; undisclosed revenues recording “double-digit” monthly growth
Funding stage: Series B fundraising round to conclude in February
Investors: Undisclosed
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
New schools in Dubai
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Ahmed Raza, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Chirag Suri , Zahoor Khan
Hotel Data Cloud profile
Date started: June 2016
Founders: Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok
Based: Dubai
Sector: Travel Tech
Size: 10 employees
Funding: $350,000 (Dh1.3 million)
Investors: five angel investors (undisclosed except for Amar Shubar)
