The idea of local commerce is to give visibility and a platform to digital entrepreneurs who want to run an eCommerce marketplace in their hometowns. It allows for the growth of local flavours, information and relationships between various stakeholders.
eSamudaay is the world’s first local commerce platform whose vision is decentralization and self-reliance. It aims at providing the digital tools to local entrepreneurs, producers and delivery agents, necessary for running multi-seller and multi-category digital marketplaces in their respective communities.
Assisted by a ‘Super App’, each local commerce will bring producers and consumers together towards community empowerment and optimized to leverage local intelligence for local benefit.
Medarisha Lyngdoh, one of its founding members, says, “Through this world’s first initiative, we envision the emergence of LDP or local digital platforms and a network of decentralised autonomous organizations.”
The “Business-in-a-Box” low-code software stack helps local entrepreneurs to set up and operate independent eCommerce marketplaces. Besides technology support, eSamudaay provides strategy consulting, business mentoring and Capital raising services to prospective clients and their start-up companies.
Lyngdoh is not afraid of stepping beyond her comfort zone. She credits her childhood for this.
In her own words, “I come from a large family with seven siblings, limited resources and parents who had faith in God and us. All of us could make our own decisions. Being a bookworm and having siblings had one advantage. At my disposal were four State Central Library cards which could get me eight books at a time.”
She reminisces about how toys and pocket money were rare and that made her who she is.
Realising early on that she wanted to grow beyond a small town, she dreamt bigger and achieved it.
After completing her education at two schools, Holy Child and Pine Mount, and St Anthony’s College, she left Shillong to complete her Masters in Computer Applications from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
Having worked with TCS as an engineer and State Bank of India’s core banking solutions team has armed her with formidable experience in the financial sector.
How does eSamudaay Work?
Lyngdoh further adds how there is no collaboration between parties in most digital marketplaces. The reason behind this is the centralization of rules and technology.
In response to the question on how eSamudaay is different, she says, “The management and governance of this digital local marketplace will come from the local community itself. There is no room for abstraction between parties and this means local accountability and reach. There is power in networking and we tap into this. Their software is open source and “anyone can build on top, choose to create their brand and build as per their unique needs, thanks to the open API.”
Incubation services are also available for producers and entrepreneurs. As a team, eSamudaay realised that production is vital for any self-reliant community. They plan to have more incubation centres for this purpose. It will also hold collaborative programs to help producers learn and grow.
They differ from other digital eCommerce platforms in that they want to integrate the social, spiritual and financial needs of the community
On how big tech platforms call the shots, she said, “Given the entrepreneurial nature of India and the rising opportunities among the youth, we saw the potential to develop entrepreneurs in the hinterlands. Someone who is from and aspires to serve the community.”
Women and eCommerce
This platform aims at making eCommerce “a thing” for women since they have limited access to mentorship because of a lack of a formal business mentoring framework. Coupled with this is the lack of information on how to avail women-specific government schemes.
They aim to provide mentorship and month-long training programmes for women entrepreneurs, thus equipping them with necessary aids in this field.
Within this larger program, they are running a focused campaign to create “Circles of Success” for women entrepreneurs called Kamaal Ke 10. They currently have the first batch of 10 and will continue to expand this programme both with their resources and partnerships with Corporate CSR funding.
As per statistics, women just hold about 13% of small businesses in India. Meghalaya has an immense advantage over the rest of India with respect to the position of women. She says, “We need to use that advantage to not only own our own business but be income generators for our community. With the lack of jobs in the state, the need of the hour is being self-reliant. And eCommerce is one avenue towards achieving that. With Covid-19 we have seen the need for eCommerce. Businesses need to go digital to be resilient and stay relevant.”
Lyngdoh looks at the contradictions of the matrilineal Khasi society as she adds, “while women are the primary custodian of the property, it is the men who are primarily responsible for the administration of the society. Women do not take part in the administration. There is also gender-based roles – women cook and look after the house and the man is the breadwinner. Also, the authority of men depends on their position in the matriliny, so their role as a brother and uncle is more defined than that of a husband and father.”
In a modern world, gender identity should not be toxic, she feels; rather, women and men should complement each other. Balance, thus, is keeping pace with the changing time while keeping the best of traditions alive.
Medarisha’s message to women – “Take advantage of the ‘digital’ to create a story for your brand, and seek collaboration. Tt helps get you the best in all areas and you focus on what you can do best. Remember that technology is a great leveller.”