NEW DELHI: The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and social media giant Meta have partnered to help small businesses unlock the power of digital commerce, besides giving them buyer and seller experiences on WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, ONDC will help these business solution providers become seller apps, bringing the businesses they service on to the ONDC network and helping them drive commerce.
Incorporated on December 31, 2021, ONDC goes beyond the current platform-centric digital commerce model where the buyer and seller have to use the same platform or application to be digitally visible and do a business transaction. ONDC is a non-profit company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to develop open e-commerce.
To kick off the partnership, over the next two years, Meta will digitally upskill five lakh MSMEs through its Meta Small Business Academy. Born out of Meta’s commitment to upskill 10 million small businesses across the country, Meta Small Business Academy offers a certification to empower entrepreneurs and marketers to gain critical digital marketing skills to grow on the Meta apps.
“Today, for any business to grow, it is critical for them to market themselves and reach a wider audience. 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”, said T Koshy, MD and CEO of ONDC.
According to Sandhya Devanathan, vice-president, Meta in India, “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,” Devanathan added.
Earlier this year, Meta launched the ‘WhatsApp Se Wyapaar’ 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 holder. (ANI)