SME Vai: A one-stop business service platform for SMEs

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are easy to start, require minimum capital, employ a comparatively larger number of people and produce goods that meet local demands while contributing to export earnings.

While SMEs continue to play a critical role in the economic development and creation of opportunities in Bangladesh, several studies have found that the potential of small and medium enterprises is yet to be fully utilised in the country.

To tap the potential of SMEs and provide aspiring SME entrepreneurs a knowledge base to start with, Mahadi Hasan Sagor and Md Saimum Hossain, two young tech entrepreneurs, have created SME Vai—a one-stop digital platform for SMEs.

SME Vai offers a combination of a cloud-based self-service platform and service marketplace for SMEs to tackle various challenges that may hamper their success.

For instance, using SME Vai, an SME can easily manage its books of accounts and financial dealings. It can send digital invoices to customers and monitor various metrics of its business in real time.

The SME Vai platform also offers marketing solutions that SMEs could use to market their products and grow their business. This could address multiple issues for any SME, right from ensuring healthy business growth to accessing finance.

Sagor said the idea of creating SME Vai came to their mind after he and Saimum Hossain launched the first ever “f-commerce summit” in Bangladesh back in 2015.

“While working with SMEs that have been doing business through their Facebook pages, we figured that there was lack of strategy and business information among many of those entities. We wanted to develop a one-stop platform where such businesses could come and get solutions,” he explained.

He observed said more than 82 per cent of SME businesses in the country did not maintain any accounting records, let alone automated records in any digitised medium. “This negatively affects both their sustainability and growth,” he said, adding that SMEs often faced challenges in finding suitable business service providers for their various needs including marketing, accounting, sales to IT and beyond.

“All these inefficiencies significantly raise the cost of doing business for SMEs in Bangladesh,” he noted.

“SME Vai wants to address these challenges and help SMEs in Bangladesh to grow and thrive. It offers a cloud-based self-service platform, which SMEs could use for various purposes including running digital ads, marketing and advertising solutions, managing accounts by sending digital invoices to customers, and tracking the sales and revenue of their business,” he said.

SME Vai is also building a service marketplace that provides a listing of service providers in one place, ranging from printing and packaging services, legal services, and much more.

Talking about the features of SME Vai, Saimum Hossain said that the SME Hishab feature of SME Vai had an automated invoicing and accounting system that could take the pain out of account management for SMEs. “Using SME Hishab, anyone can create digital invoices and send them to customers instantly through email or text messages,” he added.

SME Hishab also enables businesses to record and track all their transactions and generate real-time sales graphs. It reports average sales and growth. It can also compare thopse figures over time.

Saimum said SME Vai also offered digital marketing solutions, such as Facebook Boost and YouTube Ads, SMS marketing, printing and packaging solutions, among others, at a reasonable cost. All the services are available as self-serve service as well as managed customer packages.

Saimum also said there was almost no marketplace that offered solutions to SMEs. “It is often an uphill battle for SMEs when it comes to

finding suitable vendors for solutions such as printing and packaging, shipping, marketing and so on. This often makes doing business costly for SMEs.”

 “SME Vai aims to fill this gap by positioning itself as a one-stop service marketplace for SMEs in Bangladesh. It does both its own in-house solutions, such as marketing and advertising services, and buillds a marketplace of service providers verified through a standard process to ensure the quality of services for SMEs,” he added.

 

SME Vai: A one-stop business service platform for SMEs

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are easy to start, require minimum capital, employ a comparatively larger number of people and produce goods that meet local demands while contributing to export earnings. While SMEs continue to play a critical role in the economic development and creation of opportunities in Bangladesh, several studies have found that the potential of small and medium enterprises is yet to be fully utilised in the country. To tap the potential of SMEs and provide aspiring SME entrepreneurs a knowledge base to start with, Mahadi Hasan Sagor and Md Saimum Hossain, two young tech entrepreneurs, have created SME Vaia one-stop digital platform for SMEs. SME Vai offers a combination of a cloud-based self-service platform and service marketplace for SMEs to tackle various challenges that may hamper their success. For instance, using SME Vai, an SME can easily manage its books of accounts and financial dealings. It can send digital invoices to customers and monitor various metrics of its business in real time. The SME Vai platform also offers marketing solutions that SMEs could use to market their products and grow their business. This could address multiple issues for any SME, right from ensuring healthy business growth to accessing finance. Sagor said the idea of creating SME Vai came to their mind after he and Saimum Hossain launched the first ever f-commerce summit in Bangladesh back in 2015. While working with SMEs that have been doing business through their Facebook pages, we figured that there was lack of strategy and business information among many of those entities. We wanted to develop a one-stop platform where such businesses could come and get solutions, he explained. He observed said more than 82 per cent of SME businesses in the country did not maintain any accounting records, let alone automated records in any digitised medium. This negatively affects both their sustainability and growth, he said, adding that SMEs often faced challenges in finding suitable business service providers for their various needs including marketing, accounting, sales to IT and beyond. All these inefficiencies significantly raise the cost of doing business for SMEs in Bangladesh, he noted. SME Vai wants to address these challenges and help SMEs in Bangladesh to grow and thrive. It offers a cloud-based self-service platform, which SMEs could use for various purposes including running digital ads, marketing and advertising solutions, managing accounts by sending digital invoices to customers, and tracking the sales and revenue of their business, he said. SME Vai is also building a service marketplace that provides a listing of service providers in one place, ranging from printing and packaging services, legal services, and much more. Talking about the features of SME Vai, Saimum Hossain said that the SME Hishab feature of SME Vai had an automated invoicing and accounting system that could take the pain out of account management for SMEs. Using SME Hishab, anyone can create digital invoices and send them to customers instantly through email or text messages, he added. SME Hishab also enables businesses to record and track all their transactions and generate real-time sales graphs. It reports average sales and growth. It can also compare thopse figures over time. Saimum said SME Vai also offered digital marketing solutions, such as Facebook Boost and YouTube Ads, SMS marketing, printing and packaging solutions, among others, at a reasonable cost. All the services are available as self-serve service as well as managed customer packages. Saimum also said there was almost no marketplace that offered solutions to SMEs. It is often an uphill battle for SMEs when it comes to finding suitable vendors for solutions such as printing and packaging, shipping, marketing and so on. This often makes doing business costly for SMEs. SME Vai aims to fill this gap by positioning itself as a one-stop service marketplace for SMEs in Bangladesh. It does both its own in-house solutions, such as marketing and advertising services, and buillds a marketplace of service providers verified through a standard process to ensure the quality of services for SMEs, he added.