WhatsApp launches #SMBSaathi Utsav to help small businesses go digital

WhatsApp India today announced SMBSaathi Utsav - an initiative that aims to support small businesses by helping them adopt digital mediums such as the WhatsApp Business App to run their business.

SMBSaathi Utsav has kicked off with a pilot in Jaipur’s Johri Bazaar and Bapu Bazaar where 500+ small businesses are being trained on various aspects of running their business online. Launched in collaboration with Josh Talks the intent of this initiative is to educate and help small businesses unlock the potential of their business through WhatsApp.

India is home to approximately 6.3 Cr MSMEs accounting for 30% of the country’s GDP and employing over 110 million people at present. During the pandemic, these businesses were severely affected witnessing a 20-50% decline in their overall earnings. One of the major reasons behind this fall was the lack of market access. To help these businesses revive from this downturn, WhatsApp launched the SMBSaathi initiative earlier this year, which showcased inspiring stories of business owners across India who pivoted to digital ways of doing business during the pandemic. For many of these businesses WhatsApp was their first digital gateway and an easier and more effective alternative to building and maintaining a website. The SMBSaathi Utsav is the second phase of the SMBSaathi campaign.

 

As part of the SMBSaathi Utsav, trained volunteers are providing one-on-one digital training to businesses in Johri Bazar and Bapu Bazaar in Jaipur. These trainings involve educating the business owners about building a digital presence on the WhatsApp Business App to help them better manage incoming leads and queries, build a product/services showcase and market to key audiences using online tools.

Businesses across sectors such as traditional arts and handicrafts, jewelry, fashion and apparel, food and beverage outlets and several others are being trained on using the various features of the WhatsApp Business App and are being guided on how they can market their product to the right audiences.

Abhijit Bose, Head of WhatsApp India said, “We are excited to launch the SMBSaathi and SMBSaathi Utsav programmes dedicated to India’s small business community. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and technology has the potential to further boost their business. During the pandemic, we saw several small business owners thriving by using simple platforms such as WhatsApp Business App to stay connected with their customers. A small beauty salon in suburban Mumbai used WhatsApp Business App to keep her regular customers engaged through the lockdown, a dhaba owner in Gurgaon, is directly connecting with his customers using WhatsApp Business App thus driving an overall efficiency in his operations and reaching newer markets. Examples such as these are a testament to the fact that India’s small business owners have the ambition, passion and creativity to leverage simple and reliable technologies. We are committed to finding new ways of increasing awareness about simple digital tools for businesses to support and celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in India.”

Arvind Sharma, Owner, Rupam Jewelers in Jaipur, said, “I always thought that taking my business online would be a difficult and tedious process. As a small business owner, we have earlier focused only on the traditional ways of doing business. However, the pandemic taught us that it is important to innovate and find new ways of running our business on digital platforms as that is where the audience is today. WhatsApp plays a very important role in our everyday communication with our regular customers and now with my business digitally available on the WhatsApp Business App, it will become a lot easier to connect with newer customers and service them quickly.”

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