Peer-Led Training Outperforms Webinars
For government schemes like ONDC, peer-led workshops have a success rate three times higher than official webinars for onboarding small sellers, according to a podcast on artisan businesses. Many craft entrepreneurs reportedly need practical help interpreting rules and using digital tools, which is better delivered by successful peers.
- The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) officially launched the ONDC Academy in July 2023 to provide a structured, certification-driven learning experience for network participants. The academy offers modules in various regional languages to help sellers kickstart, manage, and grow their online businesses on the open network. - A significant barrier for artisan sellers transitioning to e-commerce is a lack of digital literacy and entrepreneurial skills. A survey by the Digital Empowerment Foundation found that only about 20% of over 2,000 handicraft workers in India had received any training in digital selling. - To address this, the Ministry of MSME's TEAM (Trade Enablement and Marketing) scheme supports the digital commerce adoption of small sellers, including artisans and SHGs, on ONDC by providing assistance with digital literacy, cataloging, and onboarding. The scheme aims for 50% of its beneficiaries to be women-led SMEs. - The ONDC onboarding process requires sellers to have a PAN card, bank account details, and often a GST registration, though sellers with annual revenue below ₹40 lakhs can operate without GST for in-state deliveries. This documentation, along with creating a digital product catalog, can be a hurdle for less digitally-savvy entrepreneurs. - Peer-to-peer learning is often more effective than formal instruction because it is less intimidating and allows for collaborative problem-solving. Studies show that 55% of employees turn to their peers first when they need to learn something new for their job. - Beyond technical skills, artisans face challenges in scaling operations, inadequate branding, and fragmented market access. Peer training can offer practical advice on these fronts, sharing strategies for sourcing materials, managing bulk orders, and effective online marketing that resonates with their specific craft. - The Indian government has launched several initiatives to improve digital literacy, such as the Digital MSME scheme and Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), which aims to train 60 million rural citizens in digital skills. - The ONDC network itself is designed to democratize e-commerce by creating an open ecosystem where sellers can reach customers across multiple platforms, unlike traditional siloed marketplaces. This structure aims to make all sellers equally visible regardless of their size or digital sophistication.
