Sonu Sood's Initiative 'Pravasi Rojgar' Receives Rs 250 Cr Funding from Temasek-Backed GoodWorker

• GoodWorker will form a joint venture with Sood and Schoolnet with an initial investment of Rs 250 crore over the next 18 months.
• Around 14 lakh blue-collar jobs are likely to be created in 2020 which would be 70% of the overall demand levels in 2019.
• The total job losses were estimated at more than 10 lakhs due to Covid while the income loss was pegged at Rs 2467 crore per month.

Bollywood actor Sonu Sood’s initiative 'Pravasi Rojgar' has received Rs 250 crore funding from Temasek-backed GoodWorker. Sood, who earned the national spotlight for helping migrants reach their homes during the Covid-induced lockdown, had launched the Pravasi Rojgar app in July.

GoodWorker is a job matching platform that helps workers in the areas of employment and empowerment while Temasek is a Singapore-government-owned investment firm. Temasek is among leading investors in large Indian technology startups such as Zomato, Curefit, Ola, Pine Labs, etc.

Pravasi Rojgar was launched in partnership with ed-tech and skilling company Schoolnet India. The initiative already has 10 lakh job seekers and employers including Amazon, Max Healthcare, Portea, Sodexo, Urban Company, etc.

GoodWorker will form a joint venture with Sood and Schoolnet with an initial investment of Rs 250 crore over the next 18 months. The joint venture will formally launch its product offerings in early 2021.

"The joint venture has targeted to reach 10 crore Indians by providing access to good jobs and career progression through upskilling services, followed by financial, healthcare and social security services,” GoodWorker said in a statement.

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Pravasi Rojgar’s scope through the tie-up is now being expanded beyond job matching in partnership with GoodWorker, building on the combined strengths in migrant outreach, education, skilling, and technology.

“I came in touch with a lot of migrant workers during the lockdown and they all had one concern, how to get a job after the lockdown and support their families,” Sood told ET.

“With the blessing of these workers and their families and other well-wishers, I tried to get the right-minded people and partner with Schoolnet for Pravasirojgar.com,” he added.

According to a Betterplace report in September this year, around 14 lakh blue-collar jobs are likely to be created in 2020 which would be 70% of the overall demand levels in 2019. Moreover, 80% of the overall demand will come from the gig economy while the recovery will be faster in specific gig economy sectors and would be led by Tier-II and III.

“We will provide digitally certifiable identification to 10 crore blue-collar workers with the initiative and link it with upskilling and access to services like finance and healthcare,” RCM Reddy, MD & CEO, Schoolnet, said.

The total job losses were estimated at more than 10 lakhs due to Covid while the income loss was pegged at Rs 2467 crore per month.

About Pravasi Rojgar: Pravasi Rojgar is an initiative by Sonu Sood to help people who are unemployed and struggling to find a steady source of livelihood. Their mission is to provide job linkages and career progression support to millions of migrant workers who are in need of jobs.

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