Asia-based Diakonia Pte Ltd has entered into an alliance with FCA Publishing to provide rich industry content for its premier B2B Food exchange, to be launched officially in the next few months.
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The alliance will see the creation of a truly Asian food/FMCG retailer-supplier internet marketplace.
Under a Heads of Agreement signed this month, Diakonia is to absorb FMCGAsia.com, FCA’s e-commerce initiative. The agreement is for FCA to provide content for Diakonia’s B2B food portal, myfoodmarket.com, including real-time industry news, as well as a host of other market intelligence and information services.
Myfoodmarket.com is already up and running and is currently configuring its CommerceOne system with a number of customers.
Diakonia recently concluded an agreement with SESAMi.com, the Singapore-based provider of B2B e-commerce solutions, to integrate Myfoodmarket.com with SESAMi.NET, Asia’s leading electronic commerce hub.
Diakonia will leverage SESAMi’s existing retail food network currently transacting through SESAMi.NET, which includes such major players as NTUC FairPrice and Watson’s and a large pool of powerful suppliers from all over the world.
The link with SESAMi further signals Diakonia’s status as a serious player in the sector as SESAMi.Net currently processes S$500 million worth of transactions a month. SESAMi has as its blue-chip stakeholder, Singapore telecom giant Singtel, as well as offices in India, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Australia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Myfoodmarket.com will provide end-to-end supply-chain services electronically from requisition to payment, including logistics and financial services.
FCA Chairman and CEO Barry Pestana says the agreement with Diakonia enables FCA to achieve two of its oft-stated aims:
· To see the establishment of an industry-specific Asian food/FMCG B2B exchange that offers a neutral internet marketplace for all-comers.
· To become the content provider for such an exchange.
“We’ve long recognized and promoted the potential benefits to the industry that could stem from an Asia B2B food/FMCG exchange – higher levels of efficiency and transparency in the supply chain, lower costs, lower inventory and higher levels of service,” says Pestana.
“For some months now, we’ve been pushing the message strong and hard and have put our money where our mouth is by investing, through FMCG Asia, in a Business Plan, roadshows and the like to drive the project forward. The agreement with Diakonia will help bring our ambitions to fruition.”
Diakonia managing director Chang Chew Lik says he sees a lot of synergies between Diakonia and FCA.
“We are a premier exchange player, whereas FCA is a leading content provider in Asia. This strategic alliance will combine the effectiveness of on-line transaction capability with real time market information to create a highly efficient market place.” says Chang.
Formed in March, the company began business operations in August following its equity raising and tie-up with technology partner, CommerceOne.
Diakonia’s equity partners include investors from Asia, Silicon Valley and other parts of North America.
The company has been working with SESAMi to put solutions in place since signing a partnership agreement with them at the beginning of October.
Chang says: “We are ahead of a lot of our competitors. We have a proven, scalable and working solution right now.”
Diakonia is currently working with a number of clients to configure their systems as a prelude to going ‘live’ on the exchange. Several announcements involving key participants are expected to be made between now and first quarter next year.
Diakonia and FCA are actively working together to develop new value added services for their customers through the myfoodmarket.com exchange.
Those interested should contact:
Naomi Chan
Business Development Director
Diakonia Pte Ltd
Tel: 2910072
Naomi@diakonia.com.sg
http://www.diakonia.com.sg
