UAE’s Virtuzone launches free online marketplace for SMEs

UAE-based company setup firm Virtuzone has launched a new listings site, standtogether.ae, to support the SME community in the current situation.

The marketplace platform will allow local businesses to offer time sensitive deals and provide information to business owners on how to navigate their companies through the current crisis, a statement said.

Called ‘Stand Together UAE’, the platform seeks to help UAE-based businesses raise immediate revenues, maintain their orderbook and support their workforce.

Long-term, it will also provide free leads and improve synergies within the SME community, the statement added.

To register their offers on the platform, SMEs need to provide a valid UAE trade licence number.

For consumers, the marketplace will provide offers from businesses across sectors including accounting, apparel, construction, entertainment, legal advice, website development and digital demand generation.

The initiative is being done by Virtuzone with support from Dentsu Aegis brands Isobar and Merkle, the statement added.

The portal went live on Monday, April 13 and more than 100 companies signed up within the first 24 hours of launch.

Geoff Rapp, co-founder of Virtuzone, said: At Virtuzone, we set up and renew hundreds of businesses every month, so when we started to see the negative impact of coronavirus on our customers, we really wanted to find ways to support them in every way possible.

“Initially, it was through reduced prices on our services, but we felt there were other ways we could support too. That’s when we came up with the idea of Stand Together UAE.”

Virtuzone chairman and co-founder, Neil Petch, added: “The government has announced a tremendous raft of support plans for SMEs, so we wish to add to the likes of mortage and credit card holidays, which buy invaluable time, by allowing immediate incremental revenue generation.”