Walmart Plans to Bring 100K New Indian Small Businesses Online

Walmart is seeking to boost India business by augmenting an existing supplier development program to bolster the activities of 100,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Launched in 2019, Walmart Vriddhi has already trained 70,000 such businesses across India, helping them to modernize and scale through digital learning, personalized mentorship, and the facilitation of strategic partnerships, the company said this week. Building these competencies has helped them expand market access both within India (Flipkart, a Walmart subsidiary, is a leader in India e-commerce) and across the globe, with Walmart Marketplace offering opportunities for cross-border trade.

The new effort is the result of a collaboration with Ideas to Impact Foundation (i2i). The partners said they aim to see 100,000 MSMEs trained up within the next three years on important business imperatives like finance, marketing, workforce management and sustainable operations. The program’s graduates experience on average 55-percent year-on-year growth after implementing their learnings.

“We are constantly inspired by India’s vibrant innovation ecosystem and the growth potential of its MSMEs. Many micro enterprises face difficulties in securing the knowledge, tools and market access they need to thrive,” Walmart senior vice president of supplier development Jason Fremstad said. “Empowering these entrepreneurs with critical business skills and market access has helped them to build and scale their business sustainably, and contribute to India’s economic growth story.”

Fremstad said that as the company enters the next phase of Walmart Vriddhi, MSMEs will be empowered to use new tools for digital growth and export readiness. Walmart Supplier Academy’s e-learning modules and new ecosystem partnerships will help these businesses to sell successfully through both Walmart and Flipkart.

Flipkart senior vice president and chief corporate affairs officer Rajneesh Kumar said, “Our unwavering commitment at Flipkart is to empower MSMEs by democratizing access to digital commerce and vast growth opportunities.”

“Through strategic collaborations like Walmart Vriddhi, we are collectively enabling entrepreneurs to scale their aspirations and significantly contribute to India’s burgeoning digital economy,” he added.

In addition to marketplace integrations, Walmart said it plans to engage with strategic partners to help drive growth, and the program has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of the Indian state of Haryana, which has 22 districts. Walmart Vriddhi plans to sign additional MoUs with other states. Such programs also exist in Mexico (Crece con Walmart) and the U.S. (Grow with US).

MSMEs can access the resources through the Walmart Vriddhi website, which features a consolidated resource platform as well as onboarding links for the sales platforms—Walmart Marketplace, Flipkart and Myntra—and information about domestic payment solutions.