Case Studies

Growsari is a tech-enabled business-to- business (B2B) platform that helps the Philippines’ sari-sari stores get better service levels, assortment, and access to new services. Growsari provides the stores with the infrastructure and tools they need to transform from simple fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) outlets to comprehensive service hubs for the nation’s grassroots communities.

There are over 2 million MSMEs in the Philippines, many of which are sari-sari stores, or mom-and-pop shops. Sari-sari stores account for over 60% of MSMEs in the Philippines. Sari-sari stores face the need to procure a variety of goods to service the needs of their neighbourhoods. They need to deal with multiple distributors, multiple suppliers, and the supply chain is complex and expensive. Despite significant improvement in financial services penetration and adoption, there remains a large gap in financial inclusion in the Philippines, especially among those in the lower socioeconomic brackets.

Growsari’s founders, who had prior experience at P&G and Unilever, felt the distribution and supply chain as well as financial inclusion issues faced by sari-sari stores impeded business operations and income generation. Growsari’s solution is to look at the full supply chain - from buying, to storing goods, to last mile distribution, and solving each element to ensure a cost-effective distribution of goods. Growsari’s supplier marketplace called Sarimart gives sari-sari stores access to the distributor list prices enjoyed by large stores and wholesalers. In addition, Growsari’s financial services arm called Saripay provides stores the tools they need to manage their respective businesses - including access to credit, cashless payments, and various business management solutions.

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