Alibaba.com supports innovation among SMEs

New Delhi/Mumbai/Kolkata, Nov 26 : Alibaba.com, a player in B2B e-commerce, is pioneering various initiatives to recognize entrepreneurship and promote innovation amongst SMEs in India.

One key initiative was Alibaba.com’s association with the “Emerging India Awards 2009” recently held in New Delhi.

With the intent of recognizing effort put in by Indian SMEs building their business using the internet, Alibaba.com partnered with the Emerging India team to introduce a new category, ‘E-commerce’. The rationale for instituting the e-commerce award is to motivate and encourage entrepreneurs who have achieved exceptional growth and performance in the e-commerce space.

Following a rigorous 3-step screening process, Viva Infomedia was adjudged as the winner in the e-commerce category at the Emerging India awards this year.

“Alibaba.com has always been at the forefront of championing the cause of SMEs. The period following the global recession has been extremely difficult for SMEs and this is the critical phase for us to support them. We have initiated various programmes with like-minded partners to encourage SMEs globally,” said Brian Wong, Senior Director, Strategic Business Development Division, Alibaba.com, who was present at the award ceremony.

Viva Infomedia, a Mumbai-based SME set-up in January 2001, is completely based online.

“SMEs like Viva Infomedia are crucial to driving economic growth in India. And, it is e-commerce that holds tremendous opportunities for growth as it opens the doors of global trade to Indian SMEs. Alibaba.com has always believed that it is the SME community that builds the backbone of any economy and we will always work towards the development of SMEs by bringing e-commerce within their reach,” Wong said.