Walmart creates supply chain training program in India for micro businesses

Walmart is creating a supplier development program dubbed Walmart Vriddhi in India to train and equip 50,000 Indian small businesses to work to expand domestic supply chain capabilities and participate in the global economy.

“The Vriddhi program will encourage Indian suppliers to make (manufacture) for online and offline customers around the world, including – but not limited to – the supply chains of Flipkart and Walmart. That openness makes us unique and can truly create opportunities for those who participate. Whether a supplier has ambitions domestically or around the globe, Walmart Vriddhi will give them the tools they need to succeed,” said Judith McKenna, Walmart International CEO.

Walmart said suppliers who have the desire and potential to grow will get the tools they need through Walmart Vriddhi. Over the next five years, the small to medium-size businesses that participate will receive in-person training, a feature unique to this program, as well as expert advice, access to Walmart’s deep global experience and a network of peers and mentors in their local communities.

Participants will be equipped for online and offline growth, helping give them the tools to potentially become a part of the supply chains of Flipkart, Walmart Global Sourcing and Walmart India, or those of other domestic and international companies. The retail giant said Walmart Vriddhi leverages Walmart’s international ecosystem and local knowledge of its partner Swasti, an India-based non-profit with expertise in community development.

The new program will connect the network of supplier development communities that Flipkart and Walmart already have in India, expanding and accelerating existing programs in micro, small to mid-size enterprise training, certification and onboarding to empower growth and exports to new markets.

Consumers will be able to access quality goods from India, no matter where in the world they are buying, Walmart said.

Walmart said this program will be taught at 25 Walmart Vriddhl education institutes across India, to ensure accessibility in local communities where the micro-business entrepreneurs live and work. The institutes will be opened over the next five years at pan-India locations.

Training will cover all aspects of business management, promoting customer-centric strategies and best practices in workforce management and environmental sustainability. It will emphasize empowering entrepreneurs, including women.