DP World has launched a new wholesale e-commerce platform in Rwanda that it hopes to expand around the continent.
The Dubuy.com platform aims to create “digital trading corridors” by unlocking access to global markets for Rwandan SMEs and helping them sell in the UAE and other African countries.
DP World has already developed a logistics hub offering container handling, cold chain and bonded warehouses in Rwanda, and it believes the digital platform will enable local businesses to capitalise on the infrastructure.
It said the platform would ensure reliable fulfilment, payments and movement of goods, as well as onboarding of trusted suppliers and integration with leading payment service providers.
The platform offers “pre-negotiated, heavily discounted shipping tariffs”, including weekly shipments between Rwanda and the UAE with guaranteed transit times.
DP World said trade between Rwanda and the UAE had grown significantly and in 2018 reached AED 1.6bn ($434.8m).
Rwandan exporters of products like coffee, tea and fresh flowers, which thrive due in the mountainous tropical conditions, are most likely to benefit from the new platform.
Clare Akamanzi, CEO of the Rwanda Development Board, said: “Dubuy.com will make the previously impossible, possible, for many Rwandan entrepreneurs to trade with the UAE – and beyond.
Mahmood Al Bastaki, chief operating officer at Dubai Trade World, said: “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.”
Agriculture accounts for up to 60% of Rwanda’s workforce and 24% of GDP, according to the country’s central bank.
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