Visa, a Credit Card Service Corporation is partnering with Glovo, a multi-category app to empower small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) through a series of online training courses.
The companies said the online training courses are geared towards aspiring local business owners who want to competently start a small business, as well as growth-minded owners of small and medium-sized businesses looking for ways to streamline their current practices and expand. The series is aimed at small businesses with 10 or fewer employees.
Commenting on the online training, Sébastien Pellion, Head of Impact and Sustainability at Glovo said, “We are using this opportunity to further our offering to SMEs and to strengthen a collaborative ecosystem for entrepreneurs and business owners that shape our cities. Only 20% of SMEs in the markets where we operate sell via digital channels, resulting in a huge potential for them to tap into new customer bases.
Partnering with Visa is another opportunity to support SMEs on their digitalisation journey and accelerate small and independent businesses in regions like Africa, which has ample opportunities for local business owners. We’re confident that Visa can aid us in fuelling local economies through formalised, community-driven initiatives.”
On his part, Carl Manlan, Vice President and Head of Social Impact, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) at Visa said, “Visa acknowledges that SMEs are the backbone of economic growth and inclusion and equipping them with innovative solutions and resources with our partners is essential. Small, independent businesses account for more than half of Europe’s GDP and employ around 100 million people.
“In Africa, SMEs account for 95% of all registered businesses and contribute to about 50% of the total GDP in Sub-Saharan countries. Globally we are moving from hundreds of millions of sellers, large and small, to billions of sellers around the world. Anyone today can be a seller e.g., people reselling second-hand items via the circular economy, people working in the gig economy or those in the creator economy.
” Visa is working to provide services at scale to reach these sellers and help them flourish. This is why we are proud to collaborate with Glovo and leverage the option of visual training to help provide these 40,000 SMEs with the opportunity to improve their skills and knowledge and overcome the challenges of digitisation and leverage,” he said.
According to the companies, the collaboration is a result of Glovo and Visa’s shared belief that SMEs are the pillars of our global economy. The programme sits under Glovo’s umbrella programme, ‘Glovo Local’ an initiative to help bolster SMEs so that they can thrive in an increasingly digital world.
With its online training series and through its partnership with Visa, Glovo intends to offer timely support to SMEs. The partnership comes at an important time for SMEs worldwide to overcome persistent challenges including complex regulations, inadequate digital infrastructure, and a scarcity of digital talent.
The series crucially covers a range of business-focused topics including digital payments, marketing campaigns, social media, and money management. The 100+ videos will be available across nine countries in southwest Europe and Africa (Spain, Portugal, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria) and will be accessible to over 40,000 SMEs.