New Delhi: ONDC and Meta on Tuesday partnered to help small businesses in India build seamless conversational buyer and seller experiences on WhatsApp through Meta’s ecosystem of business and technology solution providers.
At the same time, ONDC will help these business solution providers become seller applications, introduce the enterprises they serve into the ONDC network and help them promote business development.
To kick off this partnership, 500,000 MSMEs will also gain digital skills through the Meta Small Business Academy over the next two years. “Our partnership with Meta will not only enhance the digital skills of these businesses, but also allow them to connect with a wider customer base,” said T Koshy, Managing Director and CEO, ONDC.
“We are confident that our collaborative efforts will pave the way for millions of small businesses by giving them the right fuel for growth,” he added. In line with its commitment to upskilling 10 million small businesses across the country, Meta Small Business Academy offers Certification to help entrepreneurs and marketers gain critical digital marketing skills to thrive on Meta applications.
Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President of Meta India, said that India’s digital transformation story is unfolding at a revolutionary speed. She added: “Our partnership with ONDC builds on supporting the government’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) vision and furthers our ongoing commitment to skilling small businesses and helping the country’s rapid digital transformation and growth. “
As part of the partnership, Meta will also support ONDC’s WhatApp chatbot Sahayak, enhancing the services provided by the bot as ONDC’s single point of communication for sellers and customers.
Earlier this year, Meta launched the ‘WhatsApp Se Wyapaar’ initiative to upskill 10 million traders across 29 states through the WhatsApp Business app in 11 Indian languages. Today, the WhatsApp Business app has more than 200 million users worldwide, and in India, more than 60% of users send messages to business accounts through WhatsApp.
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