The digital project of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the "Business Market”, became one of the finalists in the competition of the World Federation of Chambers of Commerce in the category "The Best non-traditional project". Its presentation took place during the World Congress of Chambers of Commerce in Rio de Janeiro on June 12.
The "Business Market" is an international electronic platform for business proposals, which allows entrepreneurs to put forward their own commercial proposals and get acquainted with proposals of others," said the President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Vladimir Platonov. "Initially, the project was considered to be an experimental one and was limited to the capital's region, but its participants, having become aware of the convenience of work on the site, came up with the initiative to expand the geography of the platform. Now, in addition to the Russian regions, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Israel have also joined. Participation in working with the "Business-Market" for members of Chambers of Commerce and Industry is free of charge", - the Head of the MCCI pointed out.
The project settles one of the most important tasks for members of Chambers - it enables them to find partners, clients, contractors and investors effectively. The platform contains a number of useful functions, such as a catalogue of business proposals, system of commercial tenders, industrial cooperation mechanism, an electronic document management, investment platform and a system of mutual discounts between members of various Chambers.
The distinctive characteristic of the "Business Market" platform is that when a member and prospective user opens its website, https://b2b-market.world/ , it is automatically fully branded with the nearest connected Chamber of Commerce. This allows the Chambers to act as exclusive operators of the platform in their respective region.
The Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry took part in the prestigious world competition for the first time, so reaching the finals was an undeniable success. A total of 94 projects participated in the competition program of the WCF, 16 of which reached the final stage. In addition to the Russian project, projects from Australia, Brazil, Qatar and Turkey also made it to the finals in the “Best Unconventional Project” category.
During the final competition, which was conducted as part of the business program of the Congress, the project "Business Market" was presented by the Vice-President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Artem Dalevich. The presentation in English was limited to a 10-minute limit, set by the contest’s judges. Immediately after the presentation, the Chambers of various countries expressed their interest in the project and in joining the platform, which were voiced at subsequent business meetings at the exhibit of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. Also, at the Congress, an agreement was signed with the Brazilian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the joint use of the "Business-Market" for the development of international relations between entrepreneurs of both countries.
"Our platform is analogous to the successful, current Alibaba, it is, however, based on a global ecosystem of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Only Chambers, on the platform, and not private commercial firms, can ensure the integrity of business interaction and achieve mutual trust between entrepreneurs from different countries," said Mr. Dalevich at the Congress’ segment "Adaptation of Chambers to Digital Transformation".
At the final gala dinner, the results of the Congress were announced, with the winner of the competition named - the Chamber of Commerce of Gaziantepa (Turkey) for its humanitarian project to help refugees from Syria in finding employment or starting a business. The undisputed social significance of the project and the videos with the horrific images of war, demonstrated during the presentation, did not leave competitors a chance to win. The Turkish Chamber’s project was found to be "The best non-traditional” one by the jury.
The “Business Market” project has attracted a lot of attention from the global Chambers of Commerce community, and the WCF management has explicitly offered assistance for its further development.