Daraz partners with LIIN to empower local SMEs and women entrepreneurs

Daraz Sri Lanka joined hands with Lanka Impact Investing Network (LIIN) to conduct a series of workshops aimed at upskilling small and medium-scale entrepreneurs (SMEs) around the island.  

The workshops aim to provide participants the opportunity to register as sellers on the Daraz platform and access the e-commerce ecosystem, enabling them to reach a wider marketplace in a more sustainable and economical manner.

The inaugural event was held recently targeting female SME entrepreneurs in the Southern Province and primarily focused on educating participants on how to become a seller on Daraz through live demonstrations and hands-on training on the process to be followed, from registration and seller verification to marketing of products through the e-commerce application.

Commenting on the initiative, Daraz Sri Lanka Head of Marketplace Saed Meera said: “Training SME entrepreneurs on e-commerce operations, particularly about ‘How to sell on Daraz’, will allow them to tap into Daraz’s base of more than 2 million customers, and reach a wider market than they currently have access to while selling offline. Selling on Daraz can help small businesses and home-grown entrepreneurs overcome market challenges and the high selling and delivery costs, while enabling them to take better advantage of the emerging growth opportunities within the digital economy.”

Sellers can register their store on Daraz through a fast and simple process and start selling on the platform within just 24 hours. The platform provides the sellers access to over 2 million people visiting the app daily while enjoying the convenience of versatile shipping methods along with islandwide delivery. The sellers on Daraz can also enjoy convenient warehousing options for consignment-base selling and the platform backed by Alibaba’s superior e-commerce technology provides a safer and a smoother selling experience to users of varying levels of experience.

The first seller engagement programme of Daraz in partnership with LIIN was conducted particularly targeting women entrepreneurs, based on the observation of major challenges that limit the opportunities available for Sri Lankan women to expand their businesses and become active contributors to the national economy.

“We believe that giving female entrepreneurs access to e-commerce operations as sellers, will be a more sustainable solution for longer-term issues such a female unemployment and skills development disparities. We are grateful to our strategic partner LIIN for their support as we look forward to working with them to implement this programme across Sri Lanka with the aim to empower more SMEs to take advantage of the digital economy,” Saed further opined.

In a focused effort to drive more female seller participation in e-commerce, Daraz Sri Lanka formulated the “Daraz Arya Shakthi” initiative in March to equip both active and prospective women entrepreneurs with the right kind of knowledge, skills, and attitudes for increased e-commerce participation. Women entrepreneurs who sign up for Daraz Arya Shakthi will be entitled to a number of exclusive benefits, including 0% commission charges during the first month of signing up, sales proceeds within seven days, and free packaging materials. The benefits further include free training sessions and workshops directly conducted by the Daraz Seller Support team, along with free product photoshoots to upload on their store profiles.

As the largest e-commerce platform in Sri Lanka, Daraz is committed to help the nation reap the benefits of the digital economy by harnessing the vast untapped e-commerce potential within the country. Seller and consumer education, financial inclusion, and activating rural communities will be some of the top focus areas of the e-commerce operator in the coming years. Daraz aims to host at least 100,000 active and engaged SMEs selling on its platform, which in turn could translate to at least 300,000-400,000 new jobs in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s very first impact investment firm, LIIN is focused on channelling private capital to solve pressing social and environmental issues in Sri Lanka by promoting impact investing across the island. This includes actively investing in social enterprises through its impact investment funds as well as providing business development support to nurture a well-developed ecosystem of social entrepreneurs across the country.