The Chief Executive Officer of the Sekondi-Takoradi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (STCCI), Vincent Annan, has indicated that indigenous businesses stand to take a huge economic leap with STCCI’s e-commerce platform, Chambers Market. According to him, STCCI’s investment in Chambers Market is part of its social enterprise agenda that seek to open up markets for local businesses to maximize their operations and profitability.
He noted that Chambers Market resonates strongly with current needs of business which is also part of government’s agenda – digitization. Digitization is critical for economic transformation. Mr. Annan mentioned that the reception of business to the Chambers Market has been impressive, even for a trail phase. Statistics on businesses listed on the e-commerce platform, according to Mr. Annan runs over a thousand “and continues to rise as businesses continue onboarding.”
Mr. Annan mentioned that the Chambers Market is designed to uniquely pitch every business “irrespective of size” to potential customers in Ghana and across the globe. He argued that state agencies could explore the e-commerce platform to support their procurement needs, and thus ultimately enhance their commitment towards decentralized procurement.
“You practically have a list of local vendors or service providers at the platform for you to source from. By this, local businesses are economically empowered and thus the local assemblies and state agencies get to prove their commitment in terms of decentralization. This reduces the negative impact of centralized procurement arrangements.”
Mr. Annan concluded with a clarion call to the government, development agencies, and local businesses to support the initiative and bring on the vulnerable in our society, who without such intervention may never be able to experience digitization.