Manila, Philippines – B2B ordering and store solution platform Growsari Enterprise has announced the launch of its two new business units, SariMart and SariPay, along with new leadership appointments to independently run these business units.
Maimai Madrid-Punzalan, currently Growsari’s chief growth and marketing officer, will take the position of general manager for SariMart, which is the B2B e-commerce business arm of the platform.
SariMart will have the mandate to be the country’s largest B2B e-commerce wholesaler for neighbourhood MSMEs and will operate independently from Growsari’s platform, including partnering with other offline and online players.
Speaking on her new appointment, Punzalan shared, “I am thrilled for this opportunity to continue serving the needs of sari-sari stores and other small retailers beyond Growsari’s current network to provide them convenient access to a broader range of products at affordable wholesale prices so they can maximize their earning potential.”
Meanwhile, Sandeep Bhalla will be taking on the role of general manager of SariPay, which is the independently run financial services company that aims to support the MSME network with working capital loans, cash management, remittances and similar products.
“Small stores have been left out of basic financial services by mainstream banks and companies. At SariPay, we want to continue building a financial ecosystem which is inclusive and easy to understand for the millions of MSMEs in the country,” said Bhalla on his new appointment.
Both Punzalan and Bhalla bring more than 20 years of commercial leadership from different large multinational companies, with Punzalan formerly working as a regional senior director of P&G and J&J Asia, and Bhalla being a former senior adviser at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and former managing director of Citibank Asia.
Growsari’s co-founder ER Rollan also shared his excitement over the new business units and appointments. “With MaiMai and Sandeep’s deep expertise coupled with the license to operate independently, we will be able to unlock faster growth via external partnerships. The platform in the meantime will continue to bring as many products and services to the small stores as possible,” he said.
Last year, Growsari has also secured US$77.5m as part of its Series C funding, which accelerated GrowSari’s expansion in the country.
