Social media giant Meta and the Ministry of Commerce-backed e-commerce platform Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) on 19th December 2023 joined hands to support small businesses in unlocking the power of digital commerce.

The partnership was kicked off by the exchange of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Sandhya Devanathan, vice-president of Meta India and Thampy Koshi, MD and CEO of ONDC.

The MoU aims to empower and educate small businesses by establishing a collaborative ecosystem of business and technical solution providers capable of creating seamless conversational interactions between buyers and sellers on Meta’s messaging platform WhatsApp. Meta will additionally back Sahayak, the ONDC's WhatsApp chatbot, serving as the primary platform for both seller and customer communication on the indigenous platform.

According to the MoU, in the coming two years, the Meta Small Business Academy will digitally upskill five lakh MSMEs as part of the company’s initiative to enhance the skills of 10 million small businesses nationwide. This academy provides a certification program, which aims to empower entrepreneurs and marketers to acquire essential digital marketing skills for growth on Meta apps.

In the meanwhile, ONDC aims to assist small business solution providers in transforming into seller apps, bringing the businesses under their purview onto the ONDC Network and facilitating their engagement in commerce.

Sandhya Devanathan and T Koshy expressed their thoughts and mutual vision to upscale India’s small business by providing them access and guidance for leveraging technology into their business, that will contribute to building a strong digital India.

Talking about partnering with Meta, Koshy said that ONDC is committed to democratizing the digital landscape for the MSME’s and help them build digital visibility which will boost their businesses, and Meta’s entry in this mission will fasten it up and the collaboration with Meta will provide small businesses with tools, training, and capacity building for the same.

“Our partnership with Meta will not only digitally upskill these businesses but will also enable them to connect with a customer base far and wide. We are confident that our collaborative efforts will pave the way for millions of small businesses by providing them with the right impetus for growth,” he said.

Devanathan shared that ONDC promotes inclusive access which empowers small-scale vendors to present their product offerings to a broader audience and Meta also shares similar vision. As 400 million people shop online, WhatsApp is helping them to engage with the businesses and this partnership with ONDC will help MSME’s boost up their online presence.

“Meta has been a frontrunner in partnering with the government and the industry to advance digital inclusion, especially for MSMEs across India. Our partnership with ONDC builds on supporting the government’s vision for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and furthering our ongoing commitment to skilling small businesses and aiding this rapid digital transformation and growth story in the country.” she said.

She also added that Meta is dedicated to supporting women-led small businesses by providing them training and adequate empowerment opportunities and the company has been instrumental in helping small businesses scale-up through technology, as earlier this year it launched “WhatsApp Se Vyaapar” campaign in collaboration with CAIT on WhatsApp Business in 11 Indian languages.