By Akanimo Sampson
Trade enabler DP World has launched DUBUY.com, a global wholesale e-commerce platform.
Available first in Rwanda with plans to expand across Africa and around the world, DUBUY.com adds digital trading corridors to the physical corridors DP World has built across the African continent with its investment in ports, terminals, and logistics operations.
DUBUY.com is partnering with local businesses and the Rwandan Government to help unlock access to global markets for small and medium-sized UAE enterprises, using DP World’s end-to-end integrated supply chain services to fulfil orders for export and to receive goods. The platform also enables global companies to find and serve new trading partners in Africa, opening up access to fast growing markets.
Online marketplaces are a significant opportunity for economic growth in Africa which today accounts for less than 0.5 percent of global eCommerce according to the United Nations Conference on Development and Trade.
In 2018, trade between the UAE and Rwanda reached AED 1. 6 billion ($434.8 million), with the size of trade growing significantly in the last decade as part of wider bi-lateral, and economic ties between the two countries.
The combination of DUBUY.com with DP World’s physical logistics infrastructure and data-driven logistics solutions will solve some of the key challenges to the growth of eCommerce, including reliable fulfilment, secure financial transactions and the movement of goods.
CEO, Rwanda Development Board, Clare Akamanzi, said, “DUBUY.com will make the previously impossible, possible, for many Rwandan entrepreneurs to trade with the UAE – and beyond. People and companies everywhere are turning to technology to fuel their post-pandemic recovery and improve access to global trade.
World class e-Commerce platforms backed by innovative, reliable logistical networks can lead the charge, transforming how business is done across the continent.”
DUBUY.com is the first online store created for all Rwandan licensed exporters, importers, and manufacturers. In Rwanda, DP World has already invested in a logistics hub which offers container handling, cold chain and bonded warehouses.
Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Trade World, Mahmood Al Bastaki, added, “DUBUY.com represents a new model of partnership with the UAE, designed to strengthen the existing potential in Rwanda, opening businesses and markets organically, by enabling trade and supplying innovation.
‘’This technology allows home grown businesses to become international manufacturers and exporters – by linking them with new markets in Africa, the Middle East and eventually the rest of the world. In Rwanda, this includes the promotion of valuable exports like tea, coffee, and horticulture, through a network which significantly upgrades the country’s supply chain logistics – both in urban and rural areas. As well as providing access to new digital tools that will help local businesses prosper. We’re not just building in Rwanda; we’re building with Rwanda – for Rwanda.”
