Green Tape attracts 3000 suppliers, 30 large buyer companies
View(s):www.greentape.lk is a Sri Lankan online procuring platform that offers a certified and verified vendor base.
“This is a bold venture seeking to revolutionise Sri Lanka’s tender and procurement system by automating the buyer-seller experience and easing the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic” the company said in a media release.
The platform which aims to create a level playing field for procurement in the country was launched in November 2020. Within a short time span it is already serving a base of over 30 high profile buyer companies. They have successfully concluded more than 700 tenders amounting to some half a billion rupees in business for over 3000 registered suppliers. The suppliers comprise a good cross-section from very small to large businesses and also businesses from overseas, the company said.
Green Tape is a multi-tenant cloud platform conceptualised, designed, developed and brought to market by Affno Virtual Market (Pvt) Ltd (AVM). Buyer companies can enhance process and spend efficiency as well as institute an organisational change whilst sellers get easy and cost-effective access to these buyer companies.
Nissanka Weerasekera, Chairman of AVM and a pioneer in the tech institutional investor community in Sri Lanka, explained that procurement is the key to automation and productivity improvement in business. “Its relative immaturity compared to other corporate functions results in companies standing to lose considerably. The loss is not just financial but also reputational. And what’s worse, the loss is, for the most part, out of the view of business owners. As such procurement remains the covert bane of business.”
“By attracting large volumes of B2B buyers and sellers to one place to transact, network effects would multiply the value of any one buyer or seller being present on the Platform, giving each buyer and seller far greater reach,” explained AVM’s Managing Director and co-founder of the Affno Group, Suren Kannangara. Effectively, buyer companies would be in a better position to get the best prices owing to their ability to attract and work with a larger number of suppliers; and suppliers would be able to grow their business faster and cost effectively by being able to easily access new buyer companies.
He said the Platform streamlines everything for buyers from tender creation, review and approval, to reaching the best suppliers, managing clarifications and submissions, and identifying the best bid. Among the buyer companies on-board are prominent groups such as Sunshine Holdings, Access Engineering and McLarens who have very large procurement functions and an elaborate process. “They need to get multiple approvals and control costs. With such tedious requirements, they now find business easier and smoother with Green Tape,” said Mr. Kannangara.