Trade enabler DP World has launched DUBUY.com, a global wholesale e-commerce platform. DUBUY.com is 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 local 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 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.
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.
Pan African digital payments provider DPO Group has also been brought on board, bringing its extensive experience of supporting payments for businesses of all sizes across Africa.
Clare Akamanzi, CEO, Rwanda Development Board 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 eCommerce 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. DP World Kigali enables trade as a key gateway to the heart of Africa and connecting to Mombasa and Dar Es Salaam on the Indian Ocean. The addition of DUBUY.com will empower business owners in Rwanda and help realise the country’s vision of becoming a digitally enabled African economy, while also accelerating recovery from COVID-19.
Mahmood Al Bastaki, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Trade World, 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.”
Alongside DP World Kigali, DUBUY.com is partnering with the Rwanda Development Board, the National Agricultural Export Board, as well as industry associations representing coffee, tea, and horticulture. These relationships will help design and coordinate last-mile logistics solutions that reduce the cost of transport, cut delays, mitigate post-harvest losses, and increase farm family incomes.
The DUBUY.com platform offers a one-stop-shop, ensuring all transactions on the site are secure, from onboarding only trusted suppliers through to integrating leading payment service providers, like DPO Group.
There are pre-negotiated, heavily discounted shipping tariffs in place, with weekly console boxes moving between origin and destination with guaranteed transit times, incentivized shipping costs. The shipping methods are also customized according to the scale of each transaction and the urgency of shipments.
This all adds up to create a platform which is agile, responsive and will enable Rwandan entrepreneurs to fully benefit from the advantages of increased access to world markets.
