Vodacom Financial Services has announced an expansion of its business-orientated offerings with the launch of a new portal called VodaTrade. This new portal is designed for small suppliers to be able to access more digital solutions and connect with larger business partners, according to the company.
This digital trading platform is also set to support small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) by connecting them to new business prospects.
“I’m really excited that we are launching a product which caters for SMEs, who are the backbone of our economy, as it is important that they are connected to the right business tools so they that are not left behind in their digital journey. The global pandemic has highlighted some of the economic and financial challenges and we look forward to unlocking new opportunities for businesses through VodaTrade,” enthuses Mariam Cassim, chief officer at Vodacom Financial and Digital Services.
The Vodacom division explains that some key features of VodaTrade will include analytics, receiving orders, catalogue management, confirming fulfilment, as well as sending back an invoice. It sets the foundation for Vodacom Financial Services to provide additional solutions to its SME customers, such a supply chain finance in the coming months.
“VodaTrade enables the small supplier to seamlessly transact with large organisations with intricate systems without having to worry about backend complexity. VodaTrade enables this digitisation of the small supplier, which forms part of Vodacom’s mission to ensure SMEs have access to digital opportunities to succeed now and in the future,” says Jenny Pather, executive head of Trading Bridge at Vodacom Financial Services.
“Our Trading Bridge platform is quite vast in its operations, switching transactions to the value of R200 billion per annum. Our objective is to enable small businesses to access this platform using the VodaTrade Supplier Portal and enable them to transact on a global scale,” she adds.
With COVID-19 highlighting the importance of having a digital strategy in place, Vodacom hopes that its new portal will prove a vital solution for small suppliers and SMEs in the country.
[Image – Photo by Arshad Pooloo on Unsplash]
