Future of B2B IT and Mobility Trade – Conversation with TEXUB’s CEO

Following the TEXUB launch event in Dubai, Suchit Kumar, CEO of TEXUB, a global online IT B2B marketplace, was interviewed by Rabab Zehra, Executive Editor at TECHx. Continue reading to learn more about what TEXUB has been up to.

TECHx: Tell our readers more about the motivation behind TEXUB. What compelled you to do it?

Suchit: The whole idea behind creating TEXUB as a global B2B marketplace for IT started sometime during the pandemic. IT was at a downtrend before the pandemic but there was a major business transformation as a result of COVID-19.

IT boomed during this period; it happened very rapidly, and the pandemic only boosted this shift.  The digitalization of business was inevitable. We saw the rise of attention on E-commerce platforms and the establishment of businesses through and on the internet.

Our basic objective was to seize this opportunity of mass digitalization and move into the digital sphere as pioneers of this business model, and at the same time, provide an opportunity for other traders to help them enhance their businesses. It was something that we had always envisioned – that the service we provide to the industry would be something they benefit well from.

TECHx: What are the pain points of the ICT channel ecosystem that TEXUB addresses?

Suchit: When we look at the pain points in the IT channel ecosystem, we must look at two sides – the seller’s perspective and the buyer’s perspective.

The seller’s point of view is that they want to expand the business and expand their sales, and they want to get the best prices while maintaining profitability. Today, for any seller to expand their sales, the CapEx and OpEx is very high. This is their biggest pain point. They’re looking at these areas and they are unable to find solutions – they just keep swimming around in the same pond of buyers. What we are doing with TEXUB is giving them the opportunity to expand without incurring costs. Sellers find it difficult to enhance their customer base without incurring costs, but as a non-subscription model, free-of-cost platform, TEXUB will mitigate those expenses.

From the buyer’s point of view, the biggest pain point is that they are not able to reach the right suppliers. A large percentage of businesses – 83% according to a recent McKinsey report – are not able to get the right suppliers and miss out on opportunities to avail of the right pricing, the right product, and the right kind of support from the supplier. Here, TEXUB provides them with an opportunity to generate a larger pool of suppliers to select from a larger range of prices on a product and from larger geographies. It benefits the seller as well, so we are actually addressing the pain points of both the buyer and seller simultaneously.

TECHx: Having started in Dubai, how do you plan to expand further in the region?

Suchit: TEXUB is not just regional – we are global. We are established in the UAE, USA, India, Netherlands, Nigeria, and Singapore, with offices in each of these countries. In countries where we do not have offices yet, we have TEXUB representatives in these locations to start the onboarding process and support our global growth.

TECHx: In your experience, how eager are people to shift from traditional trading methods to digital trade platforms like TEXUB, and do you encounter any difficulties in this regard?

Suchit: Distribution models and agency agreements have undergone a massive shift as brands wish to move closer to customers, and the prevalence of online trade has significantly changed customers’ buying habits. Business owners are also customers, ultimately, and this shift has also made them adapt the way in which they conduct business and trade, particularly amongst the new generation of leaders who do not necessarily wish to stick to traditional or old-fashioned ways of business. Business transformation today is moving people from traditional, legacy systems to smarter systems.

Taking this into account, and then seeing the mutation of businesses into online-offline, with the online component growing faster, if we look at a window of three to five years, I think that about 65 to 70%, of businesses on the B2B side, is going to move online.  And this direction is good.

I believe, from an opportunity point of view, and from a growth perspective point of view, we are bringing TEXUB in at the right time. Is everything going to go according to the timeline that we want? Most certainly not. Because in the online sphere, one thing that needs to be understood is that every time you find a solution, somewhere within the solution is a newer query, which has to be addressed. The digital wave is here, and we will have to learn to swim on this wave or we will sink in this wave. It can be a looming threat, but the digital platform we provide with TEXUB is a booming opportunity. 

TECHx: Tell us about TEXUB’s cybersecurity. How safe is the platform for its users?

Suchit: For safety, we use the best. We have partnered with an Israeli company called L7 Defense to secure our platform. They are one of the top companies worldwide for cybersecurity and we have a long-term agreement with them.

TECHx: What is your competitive advantage over other established marketplaces in the region? 

Suchit: Our competitive advantage is the fact that we are a GLOBAL marketplace, inspiring business without borders.

When we initially started planning for TEXUB, we noticed that wherever we saw a B2B marketplace, they were either a general B2B marketplace, which means they sold anything and everything; or they were in-country or regionally specific and did not cater to anything outside that geography; or they were based on a subscription model. 

We wanted to create a platform that addressed all these restrictions in a unique way, while giving IT traders the opportunity for business expansion.