Microsoft is following US rival Google by launching a South African Web portal that offers small and medium enterprises (SMEs) access to free Web domains, hosting and other services.
The Microsoft offering, called Biz4Afrika, offers a range of free products and paid-for services from the software company and its partners. The free products are available for 12 months, although Microsoft is only expected to announce pricing for year two onwards in the next six weeks.
Google launched Woza Online in January 2012 with partners Vodacom, the Human Resources Development Council and the department of trade & industry, offering companies a free .co.za domain name and a free website.
Now Microsoft is offering a similar suite of services as well as additional services, through the website southafrica.biz4afrika.com. The online hub was launched in Johannesburg on Tuesday by the company’s global chief operating officer, Kevin Turner.
Microsoft said the online hub is designed to bring together both IT and non-IT resources for SMEs. “Baseline services”, including the domain and website as well as e-mail and collaboration tools are provided free for the first year.
Biz4Afrika forms part of Microsoft’s continent-wide 4Afrika Initiative announced earlier this year, which aims to get more Africans online.
As with Google’s Woza Online initiative, Vodacom is partnering with Microsoft on the project. The software giant’s other partners are the National Small Business Chamber and the Small Business Development Agency (Seda).
Biz4Afrika is offering SMEs assistance in nine categories: finance and insurance, accounting, legal, marketing, administration, business services, business opportunities, technology and people. The hub will also connect SMEs to online commercial marketplaces through which they can sell their products and services.
Microsoft will place one IT intern in each of Seda’s 43 centres around the country, where they will receive training in technology and business.
“If we can help small companies to succeed in the first three to five years of their lives, we will help grow job creation and economic development significantly,” said Microsoft South Africa MD Mteto Nyati. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media