Accor has announced a strategic tripartite partnership with The Job Plus and Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council (THSC) to skill over 500 youth from low-income and underserved communities across India for entry-level roles in the hospitality and service sector
Rooted in Accor’s global purpose, ‘Pioneering the art of responsible hospitality, connecting cultures, with heartfelt care’, this initiative is designed to expand access to formal employment, enabling young individuals who have traditionally remained excluded from structured career pathways to step into the workforce with confidence and dignity.
Enabling Access to Opportunity
Hospitality has long served as a powerful social elevator offering individuals the opportunity to build sustainable careers and improve their socio-economic standing. However, for millions of young people in India, access to this pathway has remained limited.
This partnership seeks to bridge that gap by creating a structured, outcome-driven pipeline from skilling to employment. By combining Accor’s commitment and industry leadership, The Job Plus’s grassroots implementation expertise, and THSC’s NSQF-aligned certification framework, the initiative delivers a comprehensive ecosystem that supports youth from training through to job placement.
Driving Measurable Impact
The programme aligns with India’s Section 7 CSR mandate and contributes directly to key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including:
SDG 4: Quality Education
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
These priorities are central to Accor’s global Planet 21 framework, reinforcing its commitment to creating lasting, positive impact within the communities it operates in.
Ranju Alex, CEO, Accor South Asia, said, “At Accor, responsible hospitality goes beyond our hotels. It is about creating meaningful opportunities for the communities we serve. This partnership is a significant step towards strengthening a more inclusive hospitality ecosystem in India, where talent is nurtured, empowered, and connected to real career pathways.”
Rajan Bahadur, CEO, Tourism & Hospitality Skill Council, said,” This initiative reinforces the importance of demand-driven skilling, where industry plays a central role in shaping both training and outcomes. Through this collaboration, THSC will ensure that candidates are equipped with nationally recognised, NSQF-aligned certifications and practical competencies that directly meet employer expectations. It is a strong step towards building a future-ready hospitality workforce for India.”
Natwar Nagar, Founder & CEO, The Job Plus, added, “At The Job Plus, we have always believed that talent is uniformly distributed across India, but opportunity is not. This partnership with Accor is a decisive step towards correcting that imbalance. For every young person from a low-income household who walks through the doors of a formal hospitality career, an entire family’s economic trajectory changes. That is the scale of impact we are chasing, and with Accor’s commitment, we are more confident than ever that we will achieve it.”
Divya Krishan, Chief Growth Officer, The Job Plus, said, “What makes this alliance truly significant is that it is built around outcomes, not just intent. Accor‘s commitment to fund this programme is not a peripheral CSR gesture, it is a statement of belief one that transforms how young individuals prepare, and how communities perceive opportunity. Industry-led skilling, where employers are involved from day one, is the only model that creates careers rather than certificates. This is that model.”
Addressing a Structural Gap
India’s hospitality industry continues to face a paradox—high vacancy levels alongside high youth unemployment. This disconnect is largely due to the absence of a structured, inclusive pipeline connecting underserved communities to formal employment opportunities.
This partnership represents a focused intervention to address that structural gap. With a scalable framework and strong industry alignment, the initiative has the potential to expand significantly, impacting a larger number of youth across the country in the coming years.
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