Zenith Bank Ghana in collaboration with World Trade Centre Accra and Alibaba.com have kick-started its global seller-training for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Accra.
Dubbed ‘the Alibaba Global Seller Training, E-commerce Masterclass’, the training is a quest to provide businesses with in-depth insights to maximise profits on the global market. The programme is designed to particularly equip SMEs with the needed resources to launch their businesses on Alibaba.com, China’s biggest e-commerce platform which connects businesses – manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers – to buyers around the world.
The masterclass also aimed at imparting new sellers with the basic knowledge needed for selling on the Alibaba.com platform; as well as coaching and guiding sellers to overcome the challenges that come with exporting.
Divisional Head, Marketing at Zenith Bank Ghana, Kwame Adadey, told the B&FT that realising the persisting challenge SMEs face in accessing markets, he is confident the initiative will position them to take advantage of e-commerce to grow, scale-up and reach out to target markets beyond the country.
“We felt that we will be able to help them [SMEs] reach out to a greater space outside, even beyond Ghana. In collaboration with these partners we can help the SMEs access funding, give them more visibility and also train them in terms of technical specifications of the products they need; and once they are able to get all these things working in harmony, we can achieve the expectation of them scaling to meet the global market demands,” he said.
For the Executive Director of WTC Accra, Edem Kofi Yevutsey, the business ecosystem must value export trading since it is essential to strengthening the local currency in addition to providing a variety of opportunities for enterprises.
“What’s unique about what we are doing now is we are leveraging a superior technology that has already been developed by Alibaba, with a proven track-record of helping companies explore new markets internationally and develop global e-commerce,” he said.
“It has always been possible to import on Alibaba.com. It means you can spend your money there, but it was not possible to earn money there; and that is why when we started to engage Alibaba.com we committed a lot of resources and leveraged that global network; and Alibaba was more than willing to come to the table to negotiate. So what we did was alleviate fears to address their concerns, and worked with them on a verification process that ensures once you are verified as a legitimate Ghanaian business or African business, you can become a valued supplier on Alibaba.com,” he added.
SMEs are meanwhile encouraged to register for the second and final sessions slated for Thursday, March 2, 2023 and Thursday, March 9, 2023.
