By Thebe Mabanga
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau will launch two local e-commerce platforms to help boost small businesses next Tuesday.
They are initiated by the government and will be hosted by Proudly South African.
The platforms will be known as Shop Proudly SA and Market Access Platform (MAP).
The former links customers with businesses that supply locally sourced goods, while the latter is a business to business (B2B) portal, which aims to link large corporate procurement departments with local suppliers.
The department said in a statement that the platforms were “aimed at transforming and ensuring the success of the ecommerce industry in South Africa”.
Tau said the platforms would help boost support for Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and locally manufactured goods and services, create much-needed jobs and grow the resilience of South Africa’s economy.
“These platforms are meant to provide a seamless and centralised portals that will make it easier for consumers and procurement officers to source locally manufactured products and services and to meet their localisation targets.” said Tau.
The platforms would also enable local manufacturers to claw back some of the lost ground they have lost to cheaper imports.
Over 1700 locally made products will be housed in the platforms covering all sectors in South Africa.
“There will be something for everyone,” said Tau.
Proudly SA CEO Eustace Mashimbye said the MAP platform was in response to complaints from many large corporates operating in South Africa that they did not have access to locally made products.
The MAP portal plugged the gap between corporates and suppliers, said Masimbye.
“MAP is a database of reliable, local manufacturers and service providers from which businesses that have undertaken to increase their uptake of local products and services, can procure. In essence, the database is a source of local content and quality vetted companies,” said Masimbye.
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