BUJUMBURA, Jul 31 (ABP) – Trademark Africa (TMA), in partnership with the Federal Chamber of Commerce of Burundi (CFCIB), officially launched, in Bujumbura, the “Isoko” platform which will help revolutionize commerce in Burundi.
On that occasion, the country representative of Trademark Africa, Mr. Christian Nibasumba, announced that this platform constitutes an advance not only in technology, but also in the sharing of commercial information in real time, which will allow traders and companies to adopt the latest market trends.
He added that this platform will revolutionize the business world not only in Burundi but also in the East African community.
According to Mr. Nibasumba, via this platform, a trader based in Makamba, for example, can easily know what is sold in the province of Kirundo and vice versa. Thus, he pointed out, investments on transport and mobile phone costs will be limited thanks to that platform.
He added that the primary mission of creating the platform is to facilitate trade for any actor ready to revolutionize cross-border trade through that digitalization.
On behalf of the chairperson of the CFCIB, Mr. Denis Nshimirimana said that this Isoko platform was presented to economic operators on March 9 of this year and that the demonstration of its operation was well done. The ambition is to have up to 20,000 economic operators on this platform, which will connect traders from different parts of the country.
Regarding security on that platform to avoid scams, Mr. Nshimirimana indicated that Trademark Africa is conducting studies on this point, the reason why payment is not made on the platform.
The representative of the Minister of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism, Mr. Jean Claude Kanene, announced that this digital platform joins the efforts made by the ministry in the facilitation of electronic commerce, and brings a stone to the nation building, in order to allow small and medium-sized enterprises to have easier access to the regional market.
However, he was keen to stress that the success of this platform relies not only on development, but also on the collective efforts of economic operators to ensure its adoption and widespread use.
The representative of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Burundi, who had participated in the launching ceremony, took the opportunity to request that there be a high-speed internet connection and training sessions to help traders to be able to use and exploit that platform.