DEEP partnership shows how to bring more small businesses into digital trade
Partnerships are at the heart of our work at the International Trade Centre (ITC) to make digital resources available to more small businesses. That ethos shows clearly in a successful pilot project in Southeast Asia, where 1,000 entrepreneurs learned to use online tools for market analysis and digital marketing.
The Digital Export Enablement Programme (DEEP) was so successful, that ITC is ready to work with our partners to take it global.
The project addressed a pressing need in Southeast Asia, one shared by small businesses in developing countries around the world.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and Google conducted a survey that reached 72,000 firms in Southeast Asia. Over 60% of these small businesses said they want to expand exports. But to do that successfully, they said they needed to learn new skills in digital marketing and market analysis.
So along with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), ICC, Google and ITC created an integrated training programme to support the businesses’ goals.
The DEEP programme is about leveraging partnership and bringing diverse talents together to help small businesses reach new heights from engaging in digital trade.
One thousand entrepreneurs across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are now equipped with skills on market analysis and digital marketing, through their work with DEEP.
At the Summit of the Future this weekend, ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton will highlight DEEP's success, and urge support for taking the programme global.
‘What made the DEEP programme unique is the combination of digital tools and marketing techniques,’ said Adeliya Rashidova, Associate Programme Officer for Trade and Market Intelligence at ITC.
‘Trade Map helps firms understand the global market for their products and identify importers. Export Potential Map gives a glimpse of forward-looking opportunities,’ she said. ‘Global Trade Helpdesk simplifies market research, providing a strategic overview of trade and market information.’
Complementing the ITC suite of tools, Google Market Finder highlights digital demand by showing how many times people searched on Google for a product in a market.
Using data from these tools, businesses can find a promising target market, and then identify relevant digital channels and create their own digital marketing strategy.
‘The DEEP training programme was a valuable experience, and it was great to attend the training at the Google office in Kuala Lumpur,’ said Crystal Lim, a business development manager at RW Nutriogreen of Malaysia. ‘It opened my eyes to a whole set of new digital tools that are free and readily available.’
By enhancing digital literacy across the region and equipping businesses with necessary tools to thrive in trade, DEEP broadly supports digital inclusivity, ensuring that more people benefit from global commerce.
Vidéo
The Digital Export Enablement Programme (DEEP) is a collaborative effort by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Google, and the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Southeast Asia. The program aims to empower micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in ASEAN member states by equipping them with essential digital export skills.
