April 21st, 2014
Successful entrepreneurs have concluded that online presence is integral in the development of Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the world and it is on this premise that there have been campaigns for SME owners in the developing world such as Nigeria, take advantage of technology to advance their businesses.
This, perhaps, explains Guaranty Trust Bank’s introduction of the SME MarketHub, which seeks to accelerate business growth by encouraging entrepreneurs in Nigeria to connect, buy and sell on its free service portal.
There is, however, a limited window of opportunity for those looking to use the portal, as plans are underway to charge a fee for the usage of the Markethub in the future, although how that will work was not disclosed to Entrepreneurship.
GTBank believes strongly that one of the key avenues for business growth is embracing digital technology, and it is important to the bank that their customers possess all the necessary tools to gain success in any field.” The SME MarketHub “offers the resources entrepreneurs need to grow their businesses, while also providing the tools to trade online and gain visibility across the global market.”
The customers on the Markethub, enjoy access to a unique MarketHub website address, a personalised online storefront, a shopping cart with no consignment fees, online payment gateway, inventory management tools, messaging services and membership within the MarketHub directory, among others.
However, to gain access to the bank’s SME MarketHub, which business owners need to promote their businesses to an audience size of over several millions, according to the source, such business owner has to be a customer of GTBank.
The MarketHub, the source said, is opened to new and existing customers, who operate a corporate account in the bank. The process of opening a corporate account, according to the source, includes provision of all documents that support the validity of a registered business, among others.
“The SME MarketHub is targeted at helping our customers to promote their business online to an audience of customers, buy and sell a wide range of products online and our global directory allows individuals to search and find businesses with ease and convenience”.
Source: www.tribune.com.ng