Honey Bun creates app to aid SMEs
THE HONEY Bun and Digicel foundations have joined forces for a new initiative that they say will revolutionise the landscape for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The partnership will see the Digicel Foundation contributing $1.5 million towards the development of the Gapp App, which is being speaheaded by the Honey Bun Foundation.
The Gapp App is a diagnostic tool specially tailored for SMEs to ascertain important information on ways to improve their operations. The app was created by the Mandeville-based technology company Niretech Digital Services.
“When users complete t he Gapp App survey, it generates a broad approach to understanding the areas of their business which require i mprovement. It then makes recommendations on how to fill the gaps i dentified, through training, funding and assistance from business support organisations (BSOs) currently in the economic system. Links to these BSOs are built into the app to be accessed directly,” the Honey Bun Foundation explained.
According to the charitable arm of Honey Bun, the purpose of the app is to help businesses grow and become successful by giving them the ability to periodically assess their operations and processes. Each business with a registered account on the app can complete the survey once a month. This will give them time to address the issues identified in each attempt. These results will also be available in the app for periodic reference.
“From the very beginning, we have always said that the Honey Bun Foundation is built on collaboration and leadership. What we are doing is for the greater good of the country, and that can only be achieved when we all come together,” said founder of the Honey Bun Foundation and CEO of Honey Bun, Michelle Chong.
For CEO of the Digicel Foundation, Charmaine Daniels, “This partnership is one way that we hope to support our social enterprises – by offering access to tools that would otherwise come with prohibitive costs. We hope they use the the Honey Bun Foundation’s Gapp App, like other SMEs will, so we can see more of them filling the gaps in their businesses and advancing to join the Jamaica Social Stock Exchange, like Deaf Can! Coffee.”
The app is available for download on both Android and iOS platforms. Users interested in learning more about the app’s functionality can tune in on Wednesday, March 31, at 4 p.m. for the official launch via the Honey Bun Foundation and Digicel Foundation social media pages.