First ever workshop on ‘online selling for local entreprenuers’ held at Jowai

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 14, 2020

A workshop on ‘Online Selling for Local Entreprenuers’ was organized by the omechan.com, which is the first online shopping platform in Jaintia Hills region of the state, on Thursday to create awareness among the local artisans, manufacturers and entrepreneurs on importance of marketing their products through such platform. 

The workshop held at Jowai, the district headquarters of West Jaintia Hills, was organized in collaboration with the Marketing Wire and the office of the District Commerce & Industries Centre. 

This is for the first time ever that such a workshop was initiated with the objective of providing a platform to local artisans, manufacturers and entrepreneurs to market their products beyond the conventional market and reaching out to buyers from across the state as well as those beyond the state’s boundaries.

The workshop also got a positive response from the stakeholders coming from the different parts of the two districts of Jaintia Hills. 

The person behind the omechan.com is a young budding entreprenuer Russel Nongrum. 

In his opening remarks, Nongrum said, “The idea of coming up with an online shopping platform was after seeing the hardships faced by our stakeholders due to the unprecedented situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Therefore, the sole objective of omechan is to help these stakeholders from urban as well as rural areas to market their products online, which is another way to promote and boost their economic activities,” he said.

General Manager of District Commerce & Industries Centre, Pearlet Toi said Jaintia Hills is a region known for its immense potentiality in producing locally made products. 

“However, in the absence of a platform during such a crisis, it has created a lot of problem and difficulty to local artisans, self help groups, entreprenuers to market their products due to closing down of markets besides suspension of exhibition, trade fairs and others,” he said. 

Toi further urge the stakeholders to take advantage of online platform to sell their products and ensure flow of business amid this pandemic.

On the other hand, President of SURE, HH Mohrmen has suggested the participants to concentrate on products which are having high demand in the market. 

Owner of the Marketing Wire, Badal Nyalang said the shift to online shopping has tremendously increased in the country over the years starting from 2014. 

“People who shop online was at 54.1 million in 2014 and this has increased to 329.1 million in 2020,”  he said adding “If others can sell their products online, then nothing should hold us back from starting showcasing and selling our products through such a platform.”