Bengaluru, Feb 23 (IANS): Upskilling has become a priority for small businesses this year and majority of the demand for skilling programmes is being received from merchants in Tier II and III cities, a new report said on Tuesday.

Upskilling programmes on digital marketing, finance and fund-raising saw surge in demand while 42 per cent of the learners chose to take up these skilling programmes on their mobile devices, according to Instamojo, a growth gateway platform for Micro, Medium & Small Enterprises (MSMEs).

"Be it digital marketing tools or managing accounts digitally, embracing change in the New Normal is key to business survival for a sector which is traditionally driven. Upskilling will soon become a regular routine for small businesses to help them stay educated about the nuances of business, and grow better," said Akash Gehani, Co-Founder & CEO, Instamojo.

Instamojo's online skilling platform Mojoversity reported a 9 times increase in the active students (small business merchants) count, and an 11 per cent increase in the number of merchants getting digitally certified in the last two quarters of 2020.

"Majority of the demand for these skilling programmes were received from merchants in Tier II and III cities, with Ratnagiri, Raniganj and Kondotty featuring among the top 10 cities in terms of traffic on MojoVersity," the report said.

In 2020, the platform witnessed more than 40,000 new unique visitors, of which 30 per cent were female learners. 42 per cent of the learners chose to take up these skilling programs on their mobile devices.

"Be it digital marketing tools or managing accounts digitally, embracing change in the new normal is key to business survival for a sector which is traditionally driven. Upskilling will soon become a regular routine for small businesses to help them stay educated about the nuances of business, and grow better," said Akash Gehani, Co-Founder and CEO, Instamojo.