Middle East & North Africa development of smes exports through virtual market places

Project components

80. 
    The project is articulated around four components: i) a support to the Institutional Reform, ii) a support to a comprehensive and well-targeted capacity building program for country partners and outreach; iii) the implementation of VMPs’ partnerships and business intelligence; and iv) Management Support.
    

Component I. Institutional Reform (US$ 0.3 million)

It is important that governments adopt policies, laws, and incentives that focus on promoting trust and confidence among e-commerce participants and developing a national framework that is compatible with international norms on e-commerce. This component aims at supporting current discussions and to introduce policy and regulatory changes. This component will support the creation of an inter-ministerial committee with private sector participations, analytical and diagnostic studies with the objective of concretizing reforms in the enabling environment for e-commerce. The objective of this component is to set up a framework is to increase security and trust in online environments for e-commerce, which is fundamental for the creation of the Internet economy with significant positive spillovers in other sectors. It includes tackling the following aspects: e-payment, logistics, intellectual property, access to finance and export guarantees, quality control, minimum thresholds for export duties and paperwork requirements In order to tackle these issues, the three countries plan to implement inter-ministerial committees. These committees will also tackle the business processes related to the public administration that can be offered online such as e-customs and the submission of digital documentation. Countries such as Jordan or Tunisia are more advance. Jordan has drafted an e-commerce strategy highlighting the shortcomings in Jordan´s current regulatory regime. This component will support the ongoing efforts to eliminate bottlenecks. These reforms have already been implemented in OECD countries and need to be expanded beyond³⁰.

81. 
    The committees will include³¹:
    
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      Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of IT or related;
      
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      The Public Financial sector (banks), electronic payment and e-banking authorities (Société Monétique), postal services (public and/or private) and the central banks of each of the countries;
      
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      Private sector associations, chambers of commerce and other key stakeholders such as representatives of commercial banks, and
      
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      The Service Providers: Consulting and developers of E-Commerce Website.
      

82. 
    The budget will cover the expenses for:
    
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      Analytical work to be conducted to better understand the constraints and propose action plan;
      
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      The organization of one knowledge sharing workshop (between the beneficiary countries or/and with the participation of other countries);
      
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      For Tunisia and Morocco (if multi-country), the component will support the design and support the creation of an observatory of e-commerce to track and support SMEs integration in international markets using the Internet.
      

Component II: Capacity Building Program (US$ 1.35 million)

Sub-component 2.1: Capacity Building Program (US$ 0.1million)

83. 
    The creation of capacity at institutional level is critical to the extent that it will i) increase Trade Support Institutions (TSI) buy in and ii) contribute to the institutional sustainability of the project. ITC and World Bank will identify international VMP experts to design and train the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) team and the country partners (Trade Support Institutions, Civil Society Organizations and private sector association/federation). The sub-component will cover the cost of the design and the delivery of a training program that would enable country partners to fully understand the methods, techniques and dynamics of VMPs to maximize the opportunities they offer to increase export and diversify markets.
    

84. 
    A group of national Export Advisors (EAs) will be recruited by the PIUs in each country from the start of the project. Pre-identified existing networks of EAs will be utilized for the recruitment. The selection process will guarantee that the EA teams include experts on specific markets and products to ensure the maximum quality in their service to the SMEs. The EAs will be selected according to the geographic distribution of the beneficiary SMEs. They will be trained by the VMP experts (mainly on how SMEs can maximize their participation in VMPs). Upon completion of the program, successful participants will be certified as VMP Export Management Development Adviser.
    

85. 
    Regarding outreach, the component will support project country-based promotion plans through media campaigns to present the project and, later on, to showcase successful projects. In addition to this, special in-country networking activities will take place through federations, chambers of commerce and professional associations to market the project and expand the program.
    

Sub-Component 2.2: Registration and coaching of SMEs (US$ 1.25 million)

86. 
    Along with the outreach phase of the project, beneficiary SMEs will be registered in one to three different VMPs, coached on how to make the best use of their presence on these VMPs and coached on how to concretely deal with the inquiries coming from the first potential buyers through the VMPs.
    

87. 
    Under this sub-component, the Export Advisors will play a fundamental role. The will be responsible to:
    

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  Match SMEs with one to three VMPs and register them;
  
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  Suggest to the PIU SMEs which could benefit from VMPs’ premium accounts (see also sub-component 3.1);
  
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  Assist SMEs in the elaboration and the posting of the information (photos, products/firm description, delivery, etc. in several languages);
  
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  Monitor the activity of the SMEs on the VMPs (e.g. make sure that all buyers’ inquiries are adequately and timely answered by the beneficiary SMEs);
  
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  Coach the beneficiary SMEs in their first export transactions;
  
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  Enable SMEs to manage the after sales service issues (theoretical side);
  
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  Monitor on a regular basis and update the information made available on the VMPs by the beneficiary SMEs;
  
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  Use competitive/business intelligence provided ITC.
  

Component III: VMP Partnerships, Business Intelligence and Certification (US$ 1.02 million)

Sub-component 3.1: Partnerships with Virtual Market Places (US$ 1.07 million)

88. 
    To ensure the best use of the VMPs, certain high-performing/potential firms will be awarded premium accounts in VMPs so they gain greater visibility from potential clients. This sub-component will cover the expenses related to the subscription of these premium accounts. ITC will enter into partnership/agreement with VMPs in order to benefit from preferential rates for Premium accounts.
    

89. 
    Also, the partnership/agreement with VMPs will allow the EAs, PIUs and ITC project managers to have i) direct access in real time to the flow of information exchanged between the potential buyers and the beneficiary SMEs³² and ii) direct access to data related to the visits on the profiles and product pages of the project’s beneficiary SMEs, per country.
    

Sub-component 3.2: Business Intelligence Development (US$ 0.2 million)

90. 
    The VMPs are a unique source of data. They can inform on market trends, number of visitors, keywords searches, categories browsed, buyers’ origin, preferences, number of inquiries by sector, etc. ITC will collect this data and integrate it with additional trade and commercial data. This information will be disseminated quarterly to the WB, the TSIs, the PIUs and the EAs. This subcomponent will cover the cost ITC’s staff and experts in charge of this activity.
    

Sub-component 3.3: Certification (US$ 0.12 million)

91. 
    This component will cover the cost of one consultancy firm supporting one national institution per country become an international certified agency legitimized to certify companies systems and processes. Development of trust is essential in order to boost SME trade operations. In each participating country, one partner institution will be selected and trained according to relevant standards (i.e. ISO) to deliver certifications to companies of the type of the “gold supplier” in certain platforms such as Alibaba.com. Conformity assessment procedures recognized at national and eventually at international level will be put in place to evaluate the compliance of the SMEs interested in using the label. This and other related certifications will provide a stamp of quality and it will increase the confidence of potential buyers regarding the particular SME products (quality of product) and processes (delivery time, customer response, etc.). The partnership with VMPs (with Alibaba and others) will also contribute to the creation of capacity of country institutional partners through the selection of one country organization which can become the one single verification partner for VMPs.
    

Component IV: Project Management (US$ 0.12 million)

Sub-Component 4.1: Project Management (US$ 0.024 million)

92. 
    To ensure a swift and coherent implementation across the transition countries, ITC will rely on PIUs (one in each of the beneficiary countries) that will be established and hosted by the lead TSIs (one in each of the countries). This component finances management and supervision at two levels: ITC and the PIUs.
    

93. 
    Under this sub-component, ITC will be tasked with management activities such as ensuring the communication of results at project level and aggregates monitoring reports for the Bank, organizing yearly regional meetings between TSIs and PIUs, preparing procurement plans in coordination with the World Bank and conducts procurement and financial reporting with support from the PIUs. ITC will coordinate with a Project Adviser (PA) based in headquarter responsible for the day-to-day management of the project, coordination of ITC inputs, advice and support to the PIU and main project stakeholders.
    

94. 
    The cost of the PIU will include the staff only, rental and essential office equipment will be provided by the TSIs.
    

Sub-Component 4.2: Impact and Evaluation Assessment (US$ 0.03 million)

95. 
    This sub-component will cover the cost of an Impact and Evaluation Assessment. It will take place at the end of the project to assess the export performance of companies within VMPs vs. a sample of similar ones which have not joined the program.
    

3.