Daraz University launches series of initiatives to empower thousands of SMEs through free-of-cost ecommerce education

In order to facilitate the seamless transition of thousands of small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) across the country towards ecommerce operations, and further empower its community of 30,000 marketplace sellers, Daraz has increased its focus on the provision of free-of-cost education of global standards through Daraz University (DU) – an online portal – and launched a number of initiatives including collaborations with Google and Karachi School of Business (KSBL) and Leadership.

Daraz University launches series of initiatives to empower thousands of SMEs through free-of-cost ecommerce education

The outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic has greatly impacted market dynamics and, in order to help sellers navigate through these changes, DU recently collaborated with Google to provide sellers access to a series of webinars titled “Going online with Google”. The course focused on digital marketing and helps small businesses better understand the Google tools that can be utilized to adapt to online retail while increasing engagement and traffic on their Daraz shops.

Constantly striving to create unique learning opportunities for sellers, DU has entered into a long-term partnership with KSBL to provide the community exclusive and free-of-cost access to specialized courses. The content, topics and syllabus for each course are specifically designed for DU and geared towards helping the platform’s marketplace sellers optimize their ecommerce ventures.

“Our objective is to engage, educate and empower the community of marketplace sellers. Education has always remained an area of special focus at Daraz and we are dedicated towards creating opportunities of growth not only for our existing sellers but also for those business owners who chose to transition online and start their ventures with us amidst the new normal of the COVID19 pandemic,” said Syed Faraz Ali, Regional Head of Marketplace, Daraz.

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Education is also a key focus of Daraz’ recently-launched Humqadam program, through which the platform is inviting businesses across the country to set up their digital ventures on Daraz. The platform’s aim is to ensure that the SME sector – which contributes 40% to the country’s GDP and 80% of total non-agricultural employment – is safeguarded from the economic impact of the COVID19 pandemic and is offering business support in the form of free-of-cost training on DU alongside dedicated one-on-one support to sellers while they set up their Daraz shops. The platform has also waived commission charges for the months of May and June.

Every month, Daraz University educates 3,000 new and existing sellers on ecommerce operations and during these unprecedented times, Daraz is dedicated to heightening its focus on education to uplift the SME sector.