A government-funded digital divide program has helped a total of 70,000 small businesses to subscribe to ADSL broadband Internet service, and incorporate e-commerce into the operations of their businesses, an official said yesterday.
The three-year "Bridging the Digital Divide of the SME Project (2005-2007)" has generated an estimated NT$4.3 billion (US$132 million) in business opportunities, Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said at an award ceremony.
The project, sponsored by the Small-and-Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA), first opened in 2005 in a bid to assist small-sized businesses with fewer than 20 employees to collaborate with local information service providers to use the Internet and e-commerce in their business operations.
"The collaboration also helped create NT$1.63 billion in new business opportunities for the information service providers," Chen said.
The program also helped in the formation of female-run start-ups, as out of the 70,000 small businesses, there are 20,000 businesses owned by women , he said.
Lai Gui-tsan (賴閨燦), manager of the Nantou County-based Mone Garden Resort Village (寞內花園山莊), said sales at the resort had increased between two and threefold after using an e-commerce Web site and collaborating with Yahoo for a keyword search.
"Our monthly sales have increased from around NT$100,000 in the past, to between at least NT$300,000 and NT$400,000 each month, even during low-demand seasons," said Lai, whose business was recognized for its creative operation through the use of the Internet.
Hsu Chih-wei (許智偉), general manager of the Tainan City-based West Well Cuisine (西井村食品企業), which specializes in honey-flavored foods braised in soy sauce -- locally known as luwei (滷味) -- said the company is currently the nation's number one luwei category business in terms of online group orders.
"Our business went from being a local street vendor a year and a half ago, with monthly sales of less than NT$80,000, to now reaching NT$1,000,000 a month," Hsu said, adding that the company has even received orders from customers in the US and Singapore.
The ministry has allocated a total budget of US$10.87 million for the three-year digital divide program which ends this year, the ministry said on its Web site.
Apparently encouraged by the program, Chen said the ministry was considering providing another similar program in the future to help upgrade traditional small and medium-sized enterprises as well as promote Taiwanese businesses abroad.
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