Meta debuts India business hub for small, medium enterprises

Meta, formerly Facebook, has launched “Grow Your Business Hub” in India that aims to be a one-stop destination for small and medium businesses (SMBs) to find relevant information, tools and curated resources to cater to their goals, the company has said.

It also launched a book Grow Your Business Playbook to help small businesses set up offline to online journeys and accelerate sales.

The launches were announced on November 9 at Meta's inaugural edition of the ‘Grow Your Business Summit’, an event focused on the growth agenda of the country’s small and medium businesses.

"Small businesses are the engines of growth for India’s economy, and the role of Meta is more important than ever in unlocking growth opportunities for them as many of them move online and use digital to grow,” said Sandeep Bhushan, Director and Head, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook India.

The social networking giant said millions of small businesses in the country use Meta-owned apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to start their online journey and grow their business.

WhatsApp alone has 15 million business users in the country.

The firm said over the past three months, people in India created more than 1.2 million posts and comments on Instagram to show their support for small businesses and buying local items.

More than 300 million people across the world either liked or are following an active Indian small business page on Facebook, it added.

In August 2021, Facebook partnered with third-party lenders such as Indifi to launch the “Small Business Loans” initiative that enables small and medium businesses to avail loans ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 50 lakh across 200 cities in the country.

In September 2020, the tech giant launched a $100-million business grant programme for 30 countries, including India.

About $4 million were deployed across 3,000 SMBs in New Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru for the companies hit by the coronavirus, the company said in August 2021.

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