The National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprise Development and Agility have announced the launch of the Bee3kw.com, a portal that offers small businesses quick access to resources they need to build an electronic store and grow their digital sales.
Bee3kw.com gives Kuwait’s 500+ small and medium businesses advice, tools and access to leading regional e-commerce partners that can help them start or expand online sales.
The portal connects merchants with resources, developers, platforms, partners and a community of sellers where they can exchange ideas.
Manaf Almenaifi, Director General of the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprise Development, said the National Fund is keen to provide new services of the highest standards for entrepreneurs to benefit from while also taking into consideration the developments in the local and global markets.
Merchants joining Bee3kw.com will get six-month free trials with leading Middle East e-commerce enablers ExpandCart and Zid.
Watch: Agility Sets Up JV for Ethical Procurement of COVID Supplies
ExpandCart and Zid, both Agility partners, allow merchants and social sellers with no technical expertise to establish online stores in as little as a couple of hours and choose their own payment gateway, shipping, fulfilment and delivery solutions.
In addition, online payment partners to this initiative, TAP and Myfatoorah, will help business owners with payment solutions that can support their business as they set up their new digital store.
Through Shipa Delivery, merchants will get on-demand same-day, next-day or cross-border delivery in Kuwait and across the Arabian Gulf.
Henadi Al-Saleh, Agility Chairperson and leader of Agility’s logistics venture strategy, said: “Because of the current crisis, online selling is key to both growth and survival for many small businesses. Consumers have turned to e-commerce and this shift in buying patterns could be permanent.
"The faster merchants adapt by building attractive, efficient, low-cost, easy-to-use digital stores, the more likely they are to thrive in the current environment and in the future.”
Through Bee3kw.com, small and medium businesses will also benefit from more than 10 training sessions on various topics that will help them move online.