 "ONDC")
The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) on Tuesday announced a partnership with technology major Meta to help small businesses.
Over the next two years, 500,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will be digitally upskilled through the Meta Small Business Academy, in line with Meta’s commitment to up-skill 10 million small businesses across the country.
The Meta Small Business Academy offers entrepreneurs and marketers a certification in digital marketing skills to grow on the Meta apps.
“Our partnership with Meta will not only digitally upskill these businesses but will also enable them to connect with a customer base far and wide. We are confident that our collaborative efforts will pave the way for millions of small businesses by providing them with the right impetus for growth,” said T Koshy, MD and CEO of ONDC.
The technology major said it would enable and educate MSMEs to build “seamless conversational buyer and seller experiences on WhatsApp through an ecosystem of Meta’s business and technical solution providers.”
Meanwhile, the government-backed open e-commerce network will help these business solution providers become seller apps, bringing the businesses they service onto ONDC.
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“Meta has been a frontrunner in partnering with the government and the industry to advance digital inclusion, especially for MSMEs across India. Our partnership with ONDC builds on supporting the government’s vision for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and furthering our ongoing commitment to skilling small businesses and aiding this rapid digital transformation and growth story in the country,” said Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President, Meta in India.
As part of the partnership, Meta will also support Sahayak, ONDC’s WhatsApp chatbot, in enhancing the services offered on the bot as “the single point of seller and customer communication for ONDC.”
Earlier this year, Meta launched the ‘WhatsApp Se Vyapaar’ programme to upskill 10 million traders across 29 states in 11 Indian languages on the WhatsApp Business app. Today, there are more than 200 million users of the WhatsApp Business app across the world, and more than 60 per cent of people on WhatsApp in India message a business account.
