11 Jun Workshops for beneficiaries of the Digital Transformation Inclusive Business Development project

Last 9th and 21st of May, the IE Social Innovation Department organized two workshops for the beneficiaries of the Digital Transformation Inclusive Business Development project.

The purpose of this program is to support local microenterprises by developing and validating in practice a methodology to improve the performance of small shops through the implementation of e-commerce. This project combines fieldwork and academic research, aimed to design, develop and test a methodology to promote technology adoption among small business owners. The goal of the project is not simply to support a limited number of shop owners to boost their sales numbers. This pilot experience aims at proving small shop owners with a deep understanding of the value that e-commerce brings to them when implemented adequately and also validate a methodology and practical approach to support this specific profile of entrepreneurs, which can be implemented by other organizations as well.

Thanks to TeVeo Online, professors and students from the IE’s Master in Visual and Digital Media and Puentes Global (a Madrid-based social venture), we design and implement a digital marketing strategy for independently-owned small shops that want to expand their business online.

The project has completed phase I and II. All the online shops (10 in total) have already implemented the recommended marketing strategies and they are running smoothly. At present, we are starting phase III, where we have placed these two sessions to help beneficiaries manage their online shops and learn basic online marketing. In addition, they already started the one-on-one meetings with mentors, where they will learn all the necessary tools to be able to run their webs successfully in the future on their own.