Dubai's new e-commerce platform to boost global trade

DP World has launched a wholesale e-commerce platform to boost trade with markets around the world.

The online marketplace DUBUY.com is now available in Rwanda with plans to expand across Africa and around the world.

The new platform adds digital trading corridors to the physical corridors DP World has built across the African continent with its investment in ports, terminals, and logistics operations.

It is partnering with local businesses and the Rwandan government to help unlock access to global markets for small and medium-sized UAE enterprises, using DP World’s integrated supply chain services.

The platform also enables global companies to find and serve new trading partners in Africa, opening up access to fast-growing markets.

Online marketplaces are a significant opportunity for economic growth in Africa which today accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of global e-commerce according to the United Nations Conference on Development and Trade.

In 2018, trade between the UAE and Rwanda reached AED 1.6 billion (US$434.8 million), with the size of trade growing significantly in the last decade as part of wider bilateral and economic ties between the two countries.

The combination of DUBUY.com with DP World’s physical logistics infrastructure and data-driven logistics solutions will solve some of the key challenges to the growth of e-commerce, including reliable fulfilment, secure financial transactions and the movement of goods.

Clare Akamanzi, CEO of Rwanda Development Board said, "DUBUY.com will make the previously impossible, possible, for many Rwandan entrepreneurs to trade with the UAE – and beyond."

"This technology allows homegrown businesses to become international manufacturers and exporters - by linking them with new markets in Africa, the Middle East and eventually the rest of the world," said Mahmood Al Bastaki, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Trade World.