A FREE online advertising platform has been launched to take advantage of the recent surge in continental internet penetration and help boost trade in the southern Africa region.

The internet has helped transform business across the world but Africa missed out on the so-called dot.com revolution due to low internet penetration levels.

However the promoters of a new free online advertising platform, SADCtrader.com say with Africa’s internet usage growth topping 1 800 percent in the last ten years, the continent is now experiencing its own internet revolution.

SADCtrader.com offers a free platform for private and business to business commercial interaction covering all the 15 countries in the SADC region, from Angola to Zimbabwe.

“The project was inspired by a sense of frustration caused by lack of information on how to do business in developing economies. Information on products and services as well as producers and service providers is not readily available, which is a stifling bottleneck to trade,” SADCtrader.com marketing manager Douglas Tobaiwa said.

The project offers what could be a crucial marketing platform for informal traders and the small-to- medium scale enterprise sector (SMEs) which now contributes significantly to gross domestic product growth in regional economies.

SMEs growth in Africa is generally constrained by the lack of exposure and the unavailability of information resulting in businesses failing to realize their full potential.

“Users can advertise goods and services for free and they can also use the site to find anything including a job, a date or a holiday. You can search adverts in all sections using keywords, category or price using a powerful quick search tool or by location using the map,” Tobaiwa said.

Companies can also list for free on the site’s online directory which allows them to provide key information for customers such as websites and contact details.

“They can also give a brief description of their products and services which makes it a very effective means of advertising to the entire region and the world at large,” Tobaiwa added.

Free advert uploading: http://www.sadctrader.com/selLoc/selectLoc.html
Free online directory listing: http://www.sadctrader.com/submitdirlink/0/0.html
Tobaiwa can be reached at: info@sadctrader.com