Mr. Nitin Ramesh Gokarn, Divisional Commissioner Varanasi
Mr. Nitin Ramesh Gokarn Divisional Commissioner Varanasi with Mr. Sanjay Sethi
As a part of their nationwide digital skilling desktop under Saarthi, ShopClues, India’s first and largest online marketplace,today organised a seminar on ‘Digital Empowerment of MSMEs’with support from MSMEDI (Development Institute) and Varanasi Commissionerate Office. Mr. Nitin Ramesh Gokarn, Divisional Commissioner Varanasi -Government of Uttar Pradesh; Mr. Umesh Kumar Singh, Joint Commissioner Industries - Varanasi, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Mr. V.K Verma, Deputy Director, MSME-DI Varanasialong with Mr. Sanjay Sethi, Co-Founder and CEO, ShopClueswere present to support and create awareness about the significance of digitisation in MSME sector as it is the prime driver in India’s economic growth. The Valedictory Address was helmed by Mr. Yogeshwar Ram Mishra, District Magistrate, Varanasi. The ShopClues merchant initiatives teamintroduced MSMEs to Saarthi - the digital enablement program that is aimed at educating and empowering Indian MSMEs to experience enhanced market access in the e-commerce environment.The workshop was also supported by Birla Sun Life Insurance, GatiLimited, a pioneer in Express Distribution and, supply chain solutions and Go Daddy, a domain registrar and web hosting brand, who joined hands with ShopClues to reinforce their vision of Digital India. Commenting on the occasion, Sanjay Sethi, Co-Founder and CEO, ShopClues said, “Weat ShopClues
believe in the vision of India beingthe next economic superpower of the world. We also know that unless we areable to bring the 400 million people of middle India, that is people living in smaller towns and cities of the county i.e. “Bharat” into our economic mainstream, this vision will remain a dream. Via our “Saarthi” program ShopCluesendeavours todigitize & empower lakhs of MSMEs and bring them into the economic mainstream of the country. We are very proud of the fact that we have already, influenced lives of more than 5 Lakh MSMEs but our work has barely begun. I would like to thank MSME –DI and the Government of Uttar Pradesh for their supportforSaarthi. ShopClues is confident that India’sMSME community will benefit from this initiative and use it to take control of not only their economic empowerment but also participate more directly in nation building.” Mr. Umesh Kumar Singh, Joint Commissioner Industries- Varanasi, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, said,“Small and medium enterprises constitute more than 80% of the Indian retail sector, and, if guided well, they can shape the future of our country. In the vast un-tapped universe of burgeoning businesses in our country, only a miniscule percentage have been able to take their wares online so far. The government of Uttar Pradesh has always taken initiativestounderstand and encourage these businesses, especially from the vibrant city of Varanasi, to bring their businesses online for more market access andrecognition. I would like to thank ShopCluesfor working towards the development of small and medium enterprises with initiatives like Saarthi. This skilling and development program specifically designed around digital opportunities will serve as a huge boost to the art of weaving from Varanasi, giving artisans a national platform” Another pre-event was organised on June 1, 2017 by theShopcluesteam with the Weaver Service Centre (WSC) to register their weavers onthe-spot on Shopclues.com and impart training on online selling. Attended by more than 50 traditional weavers of Varanasi, a session was organized by the MSME experts of ShopClues to help them grow and understand the benefits of online selling.
About ShopClues
Headquartered in Gurgaon, ShopClues was founded in 2011, as a preferred e-commerce destination for Real India - Buyers and Sellers in tier 2, tier 3, 4 cities and beyond. With more than 100 million monthly visits, over 20 million listed products, 5, 00,000 + merchants, over 7000 online brand stores, ShopClues services 30,000 pin codes across India. Spearheaded by Sanjay Sethi& Radhika Aggarwal, ShopClues (an Indian subsidiary of Clues Network Inc., a US Corporation) was deemed a Unicorn in 2016 with the E Series Funding by Sovereign Wealth Fund GIC Pte Ltd. Other investors include Tiger Global Management LLC, Helion Venture Partners & Nexus Venture Partners.