SMEs to get roadmap to drive for success

At last week’s 2010 ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, ASEAN HumaWealth Programme was launched by ASEAN-Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) and Switzerland-based Global Coalition For Efficient Logistics (GCEL), a non-profit, public private partnership, to position ASEAN as a global leader in trade efficiency.

The programme aims to provide the digital tools and roadmap to help ASEAN businesses to connect more efficiently with others in the world, according to ASEAN-BAC.

ASEAN-BAC’s secretary general Dato’ Syed Admin Aljeeffri said that one of the programme’s strong features was that it would bring much-needed assistance to the region’s millions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“Like ASEAN’s SMEs, Vietnam’s small companies are expert at making things, but they often lack the capacity to market their products around the world. This programme represents a huge opportunity to help SMEs connect to regional and global markets easily, quickly and reliably,” Aljeeffri said.

“By putting a digital trade platform in the hands of ASEAN’s businesses, including Vietnamese ones, we can grow our trade, become more competitive, and achieve the economic integration to which we all aspire,” said ASEAN-BAC chairman Doan Duy Khuong. The programme will begin in a few months, with a commitment from ASEAN-BAC leaders and GCEL leadership to launch the centerpiece of the initiative in early 2011.

GCEL’s soft infrastructure has three critical ingredients to provide the tools that ASEAN businesses need to prosper. The first is an open platform information system that provides portal access and non-intrusive integration of existing systems yet allows seamless sharing of critical business and trade information with minimal standardisation. This path-breaking technology will be made available to all businesses at no cost to them.

The second is a network of world-class technology, finance and insurance companies to deploy the technology. This network is carefully selected to address geopolitical and monopolistic concerns. The third is a rapid global deployment programme led by a public private partnership demonstrating the benefits of increased trade efficiency and security through four initial benchmark trade lanes in Asia, Europe, America, Middle East and Africa over an 18 month period with global coverage in 30 months.

However, according to GCEL, in order to successfully apply this programme, ASEAN member states must manage many critical economic issues at once. The issues include strengthening the capacity of SMEs to develop and improve export/import activities with regional and international markets, boosting trade with other parts of the world, but especially within Asia and building stronger consumer demand.