Intelligent SME.tech Issue 33 | Page 9

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Partnership aims to strengthen support and growth of African start-ups

Jérôme Hénique , CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa , and Isadora Bigourdan , CEO of Digital Africa , have signed a partnership agreement during the event , Vivatech , to promote and strengthen the growth of African start-ups by leveraging the expertise and resources of the Orange Digital Centres and Digital Africa .

As part of this collaboration , Orange and Digital Africa will work to identify and select promising tech startups across the African continent . Selected startups will be able to access a range of resources , including mentoring programmes , technical support , funding and networking opportunities through the Orange Digital Centre and the Digital Africa community .

The Orange Digital Centres are ecosystems in 17 countries in Africa and the Middle East and eight countries in Europe , that support , train and guide young people and those with innovative ideas to enhance their employability and prepare them for the jobs of the future ( AI , cybersecurity , etc .) or encourage them to become digital entrepreneurs .

ShipEngine adds 24 carriers to UK platform as it continues to bolster European growth

ShipEngine , a leading multichannel , multi-carrier API platform , has announced that it has added 24 carriers to its shipping platform within a year of launching in the UK market .

As part of this growth , every major UK postal and parcel carrier is now available on the ShipEngine platform , providing retailers , marketplaces and third party logistics providers with easy access to greater delivery choice and convenience .

ShipEngine ’ s API provides a range of developer and white label tools that make it simple to build and deploy delivery experiences that attract , convert and retain more customers . It easily integrates multi-carrier shipping label functionality with e-commerce order fulfilment technology and reduces the cost to ship .

ShipEngine provides its users with easy access to 70 + international carriers via a single integration , enabling instant access to its discounted carrier rates or the option to use existing carrier accounts . By leveraging ShipEngine ’ s technology , users can remove costs and complex manual processes .

American Express and Bluechain announce partnership to streamline SME payment processes

American Express has announced a new partnership with Request to Pay-focused FinTech start-up , Bluechain , to help streamline the supplier payment process for small- and medium-sized enterprises ( SMEs ).

Invoice management can be resource intensive for small business owners , especially when using multiple different systems . The partnership solves that problem by allowing small business owners to centrally manage , pay and reconcile supplier invoices from a single dashboard , whether on desktop or mobile device .

The integration saves SME owners valuable time and resources spent on manual admin with a simple billing and payment process , which streamlines operations and automates time-consuming tasks like data entry and bookkeeping . It also enables better visibility and control over cashflow as SMEs can choose to pay how , where and when they want .

Existing American Express business customers can pay an invoice with their Amex Card , regardless of whether the requesting merchant accepts American Express or not . Business owners can also seamlessly connect their accounting system to Bluechain ’ s platform for real-time tracking and reconciliation , streamlining bill management from start to finish .