B2BPriceNow Named Finalist in World Bank Competition

by Janette Toral

[November 30, 2001] Edgardo Herbosa, CEO of B2BPriceNow, shared to us a very important news lately as his site was named a finalist in the World Bank Development Marketplace Global Competition.

Of the initial 2400 submissions from over 122 countries, only 100 got the chance to enter the finals and B2BPriceNow.com proposal is one of them. The Development Marketplace 2001 event is scheduled on January 9-10, 2002 in Washington, DC.

Herbosa’s project proposal is “E-Commerce for Farmers” that intends to enable the farmers to harness the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICT) in order to promote development which translates to poverty alleviation.

B2BPriceNow is an e-marketplace that offers a variety of free services, designed to enable farmers, cooperatives, and other participations in the marketplace to monitor price information, buy and sell at the most competitive prices, and even pay electronically.

It also enables farmers to use simple short messaging system (SMS) through their mobile phone to post or canvass up to the minute price updates of their various products of interest. Price information of selected products per region is uploaded on a regular basis by the development assistance center or field offices of Landbank.

Incorporated in June 2000, the founders of B2BPriceNow infused US$40,000 in initial operating capital. The biggest cost for this e-marketplace project that comes from the private sector is the technology and the marketing component. In order for the company to lower its cost and have the least burn rate, Herbosa negotiated with UNISYS to own 5% of B2bpricenow.com Inc. in exchange to being called its technical partner. Hence he did not have to buy the programming and software for an e-marketplace and do not have to pay for any administration, maintenance and hosting charges on a monthly basis. He also negotiated with Ating Alamin, the premier TV and radio program focused on agriculture, to own another 5%. Hence, B2BPriceNow.com advertisement spots in Ating Alamin TV and radio show is free for the next 3 years.

Only when it had these tie-ups that Herbosa approached the Department of Agriculture, Landbank of the Philippines and the Philippine Association of State Colleges and Universities as its government partners in charge to inform and educate farmers using their personnel and resources.

A 21 key cities Agriculture E-Business Roadshow Program is being conducted where they do the following activities: explain what is e-commerce, show the benefits of participating in a free e-marketplace, teach them on the what constitutes a computer: hardware and software, hands on training on how to get access the internet, get their email account and post and canvass at B2BPricenow.com. It has visited provinces such as Cagayan De Oro City, Zamboanga City, San Fernando City, Tagaytay City, Butuan City, Baguio City, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, General Santos City, Davao City, among others.

“No amount of advertising can make cooperatives access the computer, there will be a lot of hand-holding before they embrace a new technology and the only way to do so is through a roadshow and regular training which we’re doing with our strategic partners are doing,” Herbosa says.

Lessons leaned and advise
Although Herbosa realized that for this project to succeed, he needs to get the support of the government, since they have the mandate and resource to inform and educate farmers on the benefit of e-commerce. But he did otherwise. “We decided that we should build this initiative without the government since they will only slow us down. So the path we took is to get the private sector involved with the project by making the e-marketplace operational before getting the government involved through information and education.”

He also knew that for the government to financially support our B2BPriceNow through information and education campaign, he has to provide a free marketplace. “Otherwise, if we are charging subscription, the government will not spend to inform and educate farmers to use our marketplace against another agricultural e-marketplace that is also charging subscription. If they do support us over our competitor, then they can be accused of unjustly favoring us” Herbosa explained.

B2BPriceNow.com has foregone subscription fees so every Filipino can access the site for free. At present, the site earns through advertisement, SMS charges through Smart Communications and Globe Telecom, web design and hosting fees, a share on the affiliate partner bank’s settlement fees for online payment. The company is also tapping international funding and grants available to support its cause.

The site’s purpose is now expanding as well from one industry to multi-industry. From an agriculture commodity marketplace, it will soon incorporate processed food and manufactured goods. This is a result of its strategic partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry.

The B2BPricenow.com model is also plan to be transported to other countries as well. Herbosa is preparing to position the e-marketplace to engage in international trade by having multiple e-marketplaces in several countries.

DigitalFilipino.com wishes B2BPriceNow.com with all the luck and hopes that it will earn its well-deserved place in the World Bank Development Marketplace Global Competition.

Related articles:
E-Commerce for Farmers

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Date Created:	Saturday, December 01, 2001
Last Modified:	Saturday, December 01, 2001
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