Yemen has replicated ekShop, an innovative e-commerce aggregator platform developed by Bangladesh’s a2i, to provide online market solutions for MSMEs in urban, semi-rural, and rural areas. UNDP Yemen introduced the first business-to-business (B2B), and business-to-customer (B2C) platform ‘Yemeni Dükkan’ (www.yemenidukaan.com) which is a replication of Bangladesh’s established e-commerce model ekShop at a virtual event held on Monday.
Yemen replicates ekShop as the third country following the successful deployments in South Sudan and Turkey. UNDP Yemen, a2i, UNDP Bangladesh, and Vibrafone (a private telecommunications company in Yemen) jointly developed the e-commerce aggregator platform ‘Yemeni Dükkan’ to pave the way for effective knowledge and expertise transfer between the countries.
Among others, UNDP Bangladesh’s Resident Representative Sudipto Mukerjee, UNDP Yemen’s Resident Representative Auke Lootsma, UNDP Yemen’s Project Manager Arvind Kumar, Mastercard Bangladesh’s Country Manager Syed Mohammad Kamal, a2i’s Programme Manager Md. Mazedul Islam and Chief Executive Officer of Vibrafone Ibrahim Alshami spoke at the soft launch. A panel discussion on E-commerce: Promising Prospect for the Business Community was also held headed by panelists and speakers from UNDP Yemen, UNDP Bangladesh, and Yemeni private sector participants following the launching event. E-commerce Specialist of a2i of Bangladesh Rezwanul Haque Jami moderated the panel discussion where Chief Executive Officer of Vibrafone Ibrahim Alshami, National Consultant a2i Bangladesh Md Sahariar Hasan Jiisun, CEO of Al Amal Microfinance Bank Mahammed Saleh Allai, Project manager of UNDP Yemen Arvind Kumar, and Acting Executive Director/Programming Academy Director of ROWAD Ahmed Qasim present as the panelists.