DigitalCFO Newsroom | 20 August 2021
WorldFirst, a leader in international business payments, and Alibaba.com, Alibaba Group’s B2B marketplace, have entered a partnership to help Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) bolster their digital presence and expand their sales internationally, overcoming the constraints brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
WorldFirst will become Alibaba.com’s official channel partner in Singapore, helping local sellers gain access to the 26 million buyers from over 200 countries and regions on the platform. Through the partnership, WorldFirst will help the SMEs assess how best to leverage Alibaba.com and further assist them in navigating the platform’s variety of services, from registration, setting up and running their online stores, to conducting online marketing campaigns together with certified Alibaba.com partners. Through WorldFirst, sellers will be able to conduct fast, convenient, and cost-effective cross-border payments.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has had a severe impact on businesses in the export sector, especially in the case of SMEs, many of which lack online presence and are still largely reliant on physically attending tradeshows to showcase their products. With the ongoing pandemic causing many events to be scaled down, rescheduled, or even cancelled, the WorldFirst and Alibaba.com partnership will help Singapore’s SMEs reach customers and business partners around the world in an efficient and cost-effective way.
“Singapore’s exports have remained resilient amid the uncertainties and will continue to ride on the global trade recovery, and our timely partnership will allow WorldFirst and Alibaba.com to connect Singapore’s dynamic SMEs to millions of potential buyers across the world,” Peter Scully, Country Manager, WorldFirst Singapore commented. “Our partnership with Alibaba.com is a testament to our shared commitment to helping local SMEs thrive online as well as offline, and benefit from the huge opportunities that exist in the international market.”
Founded in 2004, WorldFirst is an international payments business helping small businesses move money around the world. Since 2019 it has been part of Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba.
“Alibaba.com has always been committed to supporting Singapore’s SME exporters with our digital solutions and this new partnership with WorldFirst will further expand our offerings to them to include digital cross-border payment tools,” said Andrew Zheng, Deputy General Manager of Alibaba.com. “We hope that this joint effort makes exporting to the world even more accessible for Singapore business, especially amid Covid-19.”
About WorldFirst
WorldFirst is an international payments business helping small businesses move money around the world. WorldFirst customers can open one or multiple local currency accounts online, for free, and make foreign exchange transactions in 68 currencies easily and at speed.
About Alibaba.com
The first business unit of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com is a leading platform for global B2B e-commerce that aims to make it easy to do business anywhere. Launched in 1999, Alibaba.com is engaged in services covering all aspects of commerce, including providing businesses with tools that help reach a global audience for their products and helping buyers discover products, find suppliers, and place orders online fast and efficiently. It serves millions of buyers and suppliers from over 200 countries and regions around the world.
