DP World has launched DUBUY.com, a global wholesale e-commerce platform, which is available first in Rwanda with plans to expand across Africa and around the world.
DP World said that the new platform adds digital trading corridors to the physical corridors it 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.
DP World added that DUBUY.com 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 Rosoom.
Additionally, there are pre-negotiated, discounted shipping tariffs in place, with weekly console boxes moving between origin and destination with guaranteed transit times, and incentivized shipping costs, according to an announcement, while shipping methods are also customised according to the scale of each transaction, and the urgency of shipments.
Online marketplaces are a significant opportunity for economic growth in Africa which today accounts for less than 0.5% of global eCommerce according to the United Nations Conference on Development and Trade. In 2018, trade between the UAE and Rwanda reached US$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, according to the company’s statement.
“DUBUY.com will make the previously impossible, possible, for many Rwandan entrepreneurs to trade with the UAE – and beyond,” said Clare Akamanzi, CEO at Rwanda Development Board.
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.
Mahmood Al Bastaki, chief operating officer of Dubai Trade World, commented, “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.”
