Arifu and Praekelt.Org, supported by Google.org have launched a suite of free interactive training and information to help small businesses and micro-enterprises navigate through post-COVID-19 challenges.
This would entail bringing them up to speed as well on regulatory changes, and build awareness on how to access products and services that will support their recovery.
By sending in the code “ABC” to 7205 on SMS or through Whatsapp +23417006238 in Nigeria, MSMEs are now able to chat with the Arifu Digital Adviser to access targeted digital pieces of training on services such as COVID-1 9 specific advice on health, finances, business, education, and stress management, and digital literacy skills for business, which are adapted from GSMA’s mobile internet skills training toolkit.
Other services are: job-seeking support tools, changing regulations relating to COVID-19 measures and re-opening, as well as information and linkages to recovery products and services.
The free service will be provided to low-income MSMEs, employment seekers, and small-holder farmers in Nigeria with the objectives of increasing employment, income and resilience to economic shock among beneficiaries. It will be available on Arifu’s Open Marketplace, accessible using interactive SMS and
WhatsApp through integration with Turn.io, an organisation incubated by Praekelt.org that helps social impact organisations have chat-based personal and guided conversations at a scale that improves lives.
Craig Heintzman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Arifu, explains, “We are proud to join forces with
Google.org, Praekelt.Org and Turn.io to play a part in supporting the economic recovery of people impacted by this global pandemic. Governments, NGOs, and companies can now easily support the employment of job seekers and resilience of small businesses in their communities with this free chatbot-based learning content”.
Gustav Praekelt, founder, Praekelt.org and Turn.io, said, “We are excited to be using our Turn.io technology to provide actionable resources and training to SMMEs in Nigeria with Google.org and Arifu during this challenging time”.
“Google.org are very pleased to support Praekelt.org and Arifu joining efforts and together accelerating tech solutions helping SMMEs in Nigeria through an economic recovery content. We believe that accessing information at no cost will be critical for beneficiaries to make informed decisions and sustain economic livelihoods”, commented Liza Belozerova, lead, Google.org Sub-Saharan Africa.
“As part of our success strategy on this project, we are glad to announce our partnership with Civicilab.com, an Abuja-based innovation lab that serves as a launchpad for social innovators. The goal of this partnership is to leverage their existing database of MSMEs”.
Arifu is a smart chatbot making it possible for anyone to access information and opportunities for free from organizations they trust over any mobile phone.
On the other hand, Google.org is Google’s philanthropy, supports nonprofits that address humanitarian issues and apply scalable, data-driven innovation to solving the world’s biggest challenges.
