Small Business Digitalization in APEC

On September 20, NCAPEC President and APEC Business Advisory Council (#ABAC) alternate member, Monica Hardy Whaley facilitated a webinar discussion about the promises and challenges of digitalization for Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in the APEC region.

The chairs of the ABAC and APEC small & medium enterprises working groups

Dato Rohana Mahmood Chair of ABAC MSME and Inclusiveness Working Group, and Norlela Suhailee , Chair of APEC SME Working Group delivered opening and closing remarks for this event. Both emphasized that small businesses are a driving force of economic growth in APEC, and that the private and public sectors have an important role to play in strengthening the resilience of small businesses through the adoption of digital tools.

A discussion with small business experts

Darren Ong, who manages public policy efforts for 亚马逊 's consumer businesses including global selling which helps local businesses sell internationally, moderated the panel discussion.?He noted that the terms "MSME" or "small business" are used to refer to a broad group of businesses that in practice vary greatly in size, the types of products they sell, their ambitions and readiness to sell globally, and their levels of digital literacy. He also noted that that small businesses sell both goods and services.

Panelists, who represented a range of small business backgrounds, shared unique insights about digitalization. Pim Pritsangkul, founder of Banana Joe discussed some of the challenges that came with learning to build a data-driven online brand for her business, noting that although BananaJoe sells food products, it is a data driven company.? Pim leveraged her experience to start a consultancy that offers services to other small businesses who are navigating the shift to online sales.

Dr. Kati Suominen , Founder and CEO of Nextrade Group ?provided perspectives about the trade-related challenges that impact the international operations of small business, including diverse legal data regimes and a lack of streamlined customs procedures. Through surveys of thousands of small businesses, NextTrade Group has identified a clear correlation between digitalization and growth, exporting, and hiring. She also?discussed?emerging models for digitizing MSMEs to access financing and working capital for selling online, for example in partnership with Fintechs. William (Bill) Keough shared insights gained from interviews with small businesses and thought leaders for an ABAC research report on the MSME landscape post COVID-19. Early report findings show that the challenges small businesses faced before the pandemic, including access to financing, are still a challenge in the post-COVID economy, but that #fintech is an example that offers small businesses a new opportunity to access financing by using the ability to quickly receive non-traditional business loans that don’t rely on a conventional credit-score for qualification.?

ABAC Small Business Digitalization Resources

This year, ABAC leveraged its business network to produce a list of free or affordable small business digitalization resources from public and private sectors organizations in APEC economies to help connect MSMEs to programs, trainings, and other support .

As the event speakers noted, having resources available to small businesses is just the beginning - it is important for those resources to be easy to access, tailor-made for the diverse range of businesses that comprise MSMEs, and should address the gender and digital literacy divide that widened post pandemic.

Graduate School Research Project - ABAC Small business survey

To inform policymakers about the landscape of the post COVID-19 MSME economy, the 美国南加州大学 - 马歇尔商学院 is conducting a survey about small businesses. If you work with small businesses or are a small business, we invite you to complete this survey.

Small businesses account for over 97% of all businesses in APEC and supporting their resilience will continue to be a priority for ABAC and APEC.

#smallbusiness #apec?#resilience ?#digitalization