Sameer Vakil (Co-Founder of GlobalLinker) first met Syed Abdul Momen (DMD and Head of SME Banking at Brac Bank), in Beijing at the 2016 SME Finance Forum Annual Event. That was the first time Sameer got the opportunity to introduce the GlobalLinker platform to Brac Bank. A more specific discussion followed in Amsterdam during the SMEFF Annual Meeting when Syed Abdul Momen also invited Selim Hussain (CEO and Managing Director of Brac Bank) to look at GlobalLinker. Sameer explained the platform and the partnership construct. Selim got the context almost instantaneously and said we must partner as Brac Bank was looking for progressive solutions to expand the SME opportunities and in GlobalLinker they found the right strategic fit to something they always wanted to do but didn’t want to build on their own. Hence an in-principle decision to partner was made and what followed was an appropriate timing to ink the partnership and launch the Program.

We all know, the sales cycle for a partnership among enterprises can often be long. However successful closure relies heavily on an introduction through a trusted network and continuous opportunity to interact and stay on course to close the partnership. SME Finance Forum provided us both of these avenues, said Satyam Agrawal – President for ASEAN for GlobalLinker who pursued the opportunity since joining GlobalLinker in 2020. As a matter of fact, Satyam Agrawal (an ex-HSBC employee) got introduced to GlobalLinker in the same 2016 SME FF Annual Event in Beijing that also then led to HSBC partnering with GlobalLinker. The following is a short brief on the recent partnership between Brac Bank and GlobalLinker.

GlobalLinker and Brac Bank will be launching the first ever SME Networking Platform in Bangladesh. The Digital Platform to be co-branded with BRAC Bank will support the digitisation needs of SMEs in Bangladesh by making them easily discoverable, using a patented digital business card and making them eCommerce ready. These 'digitised SMEs' are connected to a growing community of over 400k buyers and sellers on the platform, and may discover and be discovered by buyers and sellers on multiple other B2B platforms enabled by GlobalLinker's participation in the Proxtera Network.

The following is the press coverage on the partnership. 

1. https://www.business-standard.com/content/press-releases-ani/globallinker-and-brac-bank-sign-mou-to-extend-sme-networking-to-bangladesh-in-presence-of-chief-fintech-officer-monetary-authority-of-singapore-121111600364_1.html
2. https://www.businesswireindia.com/globallinker-and-brac-bank-sign-mou-to-extend-sme-networking-to-bangladesh-in-presence-of-chief-fintech-officer-monetary-authority-of-singapore-75973.html
3. BRAC Bank, GlobalLinker to launch first ever SME networking platform in Bangladesh (tbsnews.net)
4. BRAC Bank, GlobalLinker join hands to launch first ever SME Networking Platform in Bangladesh (thefinancialexpress.com.bd)
5. এসএমই নেটওয়ার্কিং প্ল্যাটফর্ম চালু করছে ব্র্যাক ব্যাংক ও গ্লোবাল লিংকার - Arthosuchak
6. ব্র্যাক ব্যাংক ও গ্লোবাললিংকার চালু করতে যাচ্ছে বাংলাদেশের প্রথম এসএমই নেটওয়ার্কিং প্ল্যাটফর্ম | বাঙলা প্রতিদিন ২৪.কম (banglapratidin.net)