MBAUniverse.com presents to you this exclusive interview with Mr. Sanjeev Duggal, CEO, Centum Learning. Mr. Duggal shares his viewpoints on the training outsourcing industry in India, key employability skills that are critical for MBA students, key sectors for MBAs that have high potential, and other topics of relevance to today’s management students.

Mr. Duggal is a sociologist by education and is armed with over 25 years of experience. Mr. Duggal is a member of elite institutions and a frequent speaker on issues related to “People, Capability and Development” at national and international forums. He is a visiting faculty at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Herewith we present to you the excerpts from the interview:
 
Q. Kindly provide us an overview of the training outsourcing industry in India? How is this concept impacting the growth of our industrial sector?
 
Sanjeev Duggal: Training Outsourcing is a very generic term and includes training outsourcing requirements of all companies operating in .different verticals. As the demand for service sector offerings grow, the demand for training the people who will deliver those services is bound to grow. As companies emerge from economic slowdown and move forward to expand their businesses, the need for training outsourcing is likely to grow substantially. 
 
The concept does not affect the industrial sector much since the requirements of training varies significantly in industrial sector.
 
Q. What are the key employability skills that you think are critical for management students? What are the key competencies that would make them more employable?

Sanjeev Duggal: Employability is the ability of an individual to be employed because of the skills and competencies he possesses. These skills enable a worker to perform well with integrity and commitment and thus act as a fundamental to the business growth and competitiveness. All businesses require employees who make sound and critical decisions, adopt problem solving techniques thereby making basic skills a very important factor that an employee can contribute to the organizational growth. Likewise, communication skills & ability to work in teams is crucial.
 
Q. Do you think today’s MBAs need to be specialists in one domain or jack of all trades? Which one is better?
 
Sanjeev Duggal:  It is important to weigh up the pros and cons of general MBA vs MBA that specializes in certain field. One of the main things to consider is whether you want to specialize in just one area and therefore potentially limit yourself in others - a general MBA will most likely keep more management options open to you. A specialist MBA enables students to receive a tailored qualification that will be of maximum practical use to them in the workplace, while simultaneously giving them a broad functional and strategic perspective on general management. The specialist MBA is a credible qualification that helps students to develop in their specialist area and become better managers. 
 
Q. How do you rate the employability of fresh MBAs coming out from middle level MBA schools?
 
Sanjeev Duggal:  It has been noticed that Indian MBA's lack industrial experience, and hence they are not able to survive in the fast world or the pressure of the organization. Once they join an organization, marks and certificates do not matter and the work environment is much different from the academic environment. The standards of MBA's from institution other than the leading B-Schools (like IIM's) are not up to par; a good MBA student should have a combination of academic and social capabilities. She/he should have both qualitative and quantitative analysis capabilities, and be able to make informed decisions.
 
Q. Which key sectors do you think are the most fast growing sectors? What role do you see for MBAs in those sectors?
 
Sanjeev Duggal: Unlike other countries, India is a growing economy. Huge population base & maximum youth population are growing to increase per capita consumption thus furthering the demand for product and services in various sectors. Sectors like Retail, Telecom, Finance, Agricultural Marketing, Food Processing, Power Management are some of the fastest growing sectors. MBA is a credible qualification that helps students to develop in their specialist area and become better managers. 
 
Q. What steps do you think the government needs to take to make higher education more inclusive? Do you think there is need to change the present curriculum of MBA schools?
 
Sanjeev Duggal: An independent regulator for determining the standards of higher education, maintaining of quality standards is a much needed requirement from government side. Besides, opening new ways of Public Private Partnerships, we must allow entry of foreign players in various formats, making higher education more affordable, widen the quality choices available, reduction in interest rates on education loans also need adequate emphasis from government side.
 
Q. What do you think are the key challenges for the corporate sector in terms of talent acquisition and employee retention?
 
Sanjeev Duggal: Talent expectations have increased manifold. Student’s passing out from colleges are expecting the world and therefore the biggest challenge the companies face is how they align those expectations with the job requirements and create a win-win situation for both.
 
Q. What message would you like to convey to our ambitious youth?

Sanjeev Duggal: My advice to our ambitious youth is as following:
 
-- Stay focused and learn continuously, so that you are on top of your career and can handle business challenges more confidently.
-- Don’t settle for mediocre institutions

-- Choose carefully and make courageous decisions

-- Institutions can be great or mediocre irrespective of being government or private

 
Q. Please tell us about the core activities of Centum Learning?
 
Sanjeev Duggal: Centum Learning, a Bharti Associate Company, provides end-to-end learning and skill building solutions for several leading corporates across the country. We enable business metrics: improve employee productivity, customer profitability and improve business outcomes.
 

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