Home ›› 16 Nov 2021 ›› World Biz
BRAC Bank and GlobalLinker, a leading business networking and enablement platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, have agreed to launch a digital platform on which the SMEs of Bangladesh can be empowered to network amongst themselves.
India-based GlobalLinker will help the SME customers of BRAC Bank set up IT infrastructure to connect them with over 4,00,000 SMEs on GlobalLinker, said a press release.
There will also be scope to digitise product catalogue and integrate with payment systems to make them ecommerce-ready.
At the virtual signing ceremony, BRAC Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Selim RF Hussain said, “The bank has always been at the forefront of supporting SMEs with financial inclusion that is so fundamental to both BRAC Bank and its parent organization BRAC.
“For the last 20 years, BRAC Bank has been a financier to these grassroots SMEs and helped them move up the value chain from a cottage industry to an established business.
“The partnership with GlobalLinker will enable us move out of the shadow of just being a financier for SMEs to driving the digital agenda of the country for the SME segment and build stronger relationships with SMEs. This partnership will also open an avenue for SMEs to explore and expand overseas market,” he added.
GlobalLinker cofounder and CEO Sameer Vakil said, “GlobalLinker was born as a platform to bring together collective efficiencies and economies of scale for SMEs to realize their big dreams.”
Welcoming the partnership with BRAC Bank, he said, “Given the interoperability of the platform, the first SME invited by BRAC Bank in Bangladesh will immediately be able to discover and connect with a growing community of 400,000 SMEs on GlobalLinker. Also given GlobalLinker is Proxtera-ready, the SMEs will also be able to discover opportunities to a growing network of over ten SME B2B platforms.”
The signing ceremony was held on November 8 ahead of the SME Day at Singapore Fintech Festival 2021, the release added.
