Singapore, January 6, 2024 – SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, has launched Labamu, an invoicing and billing platform, designed to increase the prosperity of small businesses across the Asia Pacific (APAC) markets, starting with Indonesia.
SMEs across six Southeast Asian represent 90% of all companies and 80% of all employment with market size of $2.5 Trillion. Labamu wants to empower APAC SMEs to accelerate their growth by:
- Making it easy for SMEs to increase sales through omnichannel — physical and digital marketplaces;
- Increasing operational efficiency by offering digital billing, catalogue, stock and material management, plus customer relationship management and reporting;
- Offering seamless access to financial services such as embedded banking and operating account, and later procurement and working capital financing.
“Labamu believes that every small business contributes to shared economic prosperity and we want to empower them. The platform stands out because we seamlessly integrate financial services into our platform. Merchants using Labamu can get invoice and bill payments directly deposited to their bank accounts,” said Emmanuel Van De Geer, CEO of Labamu.
Labamu is a strong supporter of female entrepreneurs. Through its Wanita Tumbuh Bersama campaign, which actively promotes female empowerment in the SME sector, Labamu trained over 7,500 business owners in essential business management practices.
Kartini, the owner of Warung Al-Matiinu, is one of the women who have achieved success with the support of Labamu’s Wanita Tumbuh Bersama campaign. Warung Al-Matiinu sells traditional snacks consumed by Betawi people, an indigenous group native to Jakarta, Indonesia. Prior to attending Labamu’s workshop Kartini’s traditional Betawi snack sales were limited to Indonesia.
The Labamu campaign offered practical training and expert guidance, including sessions by Silvia Winsen, Vice President of Business Development at PT Labamu Sejahtera Indonesia, who shared strategies for SMEs to meet export standards.
“After participating in the workshop, we are now exporting our products to Singapore. Our snacks are being recognized in Singapore, and demand from consumers there has been encouraging,” Kartini said. “One of our standout products, tingting jahe wijen, has become a favourite in Singapore due to its warming properties and health benefits.”
“SMEs are still suffering from lack of access. During incubation we could already see Labamu’s potential — the platform earned the trust of over 80,000 small business owners. We congratulate Labamu on their launch as they embark on their journey to empower SMEs,” said Alex Manson, CEO, SC Ventures.
