TradeWorld, Johnnic`s online trading hub, has announced alliances with three international partners - a move it says will give South African business access to trade leads from more than one million companies worldwide.
The trading hub`s new partners are WAND.com, Trade Compass and Worldbid.com, and are expected to add value in terms of distribution and regional presence, infrastructure and content, and trade leads, respectively.
Speaking at a pre-launch press conference in Rosebank, Johnnic chairman Cyril Ramaphosa said the partnerships were a major step towards addressing the challenge of the digital divide as it affects African trade.
The electronic hub model developed in SA will be duplicated throughout various African countries with the help of TradeWorld`s new partners, Ramaphosa said, pointing out that this venture forms an element of Johnnic`s strategy for expanding further into Africa.
"Our goal is to be the glue holding South African trading commerce together, while enabling companies to do meaningful trade in Africa," he commented.
TradeWorld MD Sean Emery confirmed that the rollout strategy would follow the path into Africa trail-blazed by wireless telephony operator MTN Africa and African satellite telecommunications company Orbicom.
Neil Jacobsohn, Johnnic e-Ventures CE, said once TradeWorld had established its presence in those countries, I-Net Bridge, supplier of online financial and business information and e-commerce services, would soon follow in the hub`s footsteps.
Emery noted the partnerships with the three global players will bring business leads worth a potential $1 trillion to SA companies, as well as taking the product catalogues of local companies to the world.
Trade Compass is a global distributor of international trade e-commerce facilitation tools, and is expected to give TradeWorld users access to 300 000 international customers. African companies will gain access to Trade Compass` daily news content, US market intelligence, manifest data and regulatory information and its trade postings engine.
The agreement with Worldbid.com, a global trade leads site, will give all TradeWorld subscribers access to over $300 billion in active buy and sell leads. Worldbid.com facilitates international trade by providing qualified import/export trade leads in more than 1 100 industry categories.
Finally, the alliance between TradeWorld and US-based WAND.com will provide SA trading companies with information on more than 700 000 firms worldwide.
TradeWorld is 50% owned by I-Net Bridge, Johnnic`s business-to-business arm; 20% by Johnnic e-Ventures and 30% by trading solutions company Rainbow Software International.
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