Page 56 - IBT October 2020

Entrepreneurship
ShopUp
growing our
SMEs
ShopUp’s journey initiated with a
simple intention- the need to serve
enterprises that make up more than
90% of the business population,
globally - SMEs, the bloodline of
Bangladesh's economy providing a
livelihood for 31.2 million, and
creating direct employment for 7.8
million people.
This need was a result to protect the
heritage long business of a small
By Sanjida Tanny
village in Potuakhali where potters
and craftsmen made a living out of
clay-based crockeries. During the rise
in demand for plastic-based
crockeries and utensils, these
craftsmen, who can otherwise be
called small entrepreneurs, from
villages were at risk of losing their
means of income.
According to Co-founder and CEO of
ShopUp, Afeef Zaman’s observation
54
most of these pottery businesses are
family-owned businesses. However,
when you combine the revenue that is
generated in each of these families
from within one village/area - the
percentage can cross the revenue
generated by a rather medium-sized
FMCG organization.
ShopUp introduces itself as a
full-stack B2B commerce platform for
small businesses. When mentioning
small businesses, ShopUp covers
SMEs, MSMEs, F-commerce
entrepreneurs, and what may look
like a unique addition is the
neighborhood mom and pop stores
that are locally known as - mudir
dokaan.
With the fast-paced growth of
Bangladesh’s economy, the
acceptance of technology has been
also made available even in the most
This solution is aimed to erase
barriers/blockers for these
shopkeepers (also known as
merchants/retailers), that they
otherwise face in a traditional
supply chain system. The majority of
these small retailers face constant
challenges in procuring goods from
multiple distributors and
wholesalers. The unavailability of
products from various brands, in
addition to other challenges such as
the lack of transparent pricing and
serious obstacles for the retailers in
inefficient delivery systems, create
running their day-to-day business.
The adaptation of technology across
various socioeconomic classes in
Bangladesh has relatively made it
easier for a platform like ShopUp to
remote areas. This, in turn, has capital/financial support to expand empower these retailers as well.
allowed the majority of the the business. While ShopUp made its With the help of ShopUp’s services
population, including people from all way towards becoming the center of in its app, these neighborhood mom
socioeconomic backgrounds, to have solutions for their merchants using and pop sellers achieve more profit
access to various digital platforms technology, it also tapped into the with less effort, allowing them to
easing their everyday life. fragmented retail market of focus more on engaging with
ShopUp is a tech-first platform, Bangladesh which accounts for 98% customers and business expansion.
utilised this momentum and of the country's retail industry and is The facility also allows these
acceptance of technology to introduce known to be Asia’s largest retailers to procure regular groceries
its services that target small unorganized retail sector. without having to travel directly to
businesses and their adaptation of This unorganized retail market is the wholesalers which also saves
technology. As a full-stack platform, made up of the neighborhood mom their time. In addition to these, they
or what is commonly known as a and pop stores- again, what we know can now provide doorstep delivery of
one-stop solution, ShopUp provides as Mudir Dokan. products to their end customers.
easy access to B2B Commerce, ShopUp in its unique approach to Currently, ShopUp is serving over
last-mile logistics, digital credit, and including these mudir dokans in its 6,55,000 small businesses via its
business management solutions. tech-first move created a simple B2B platform. What it means for a
These services are specifically aimed Commerce solution, and included its growing economy like Bangladesh is
to solve barriers of small businesses last-mile logistics service, RedX, that ShopUp is playing a vital role in
in Bangladesh, all under one alongside the support of embedded advocating for the growth of small
umbrella. This is what makes ShopUp finance. and medium-sized entrepreneurs.
stand out as a problem-solving
startup/platform.
In the early years of its launch,
ShopUp’s initial target was to provide
a means of support to small Facebook
based businesses. Starting from
helping to catalog the products of
these business owners, also known as
merchants, ShopUp assisted in
ensuring smooth facilitation of the
entire business via the Facebook page
itself. For a number of merchants, the
hurdles to run their business varied;
some of these hurdles included the
delivery of end product to their
customers, while other hurdles
included the unavailability of