With a vision to continue supporting India’s dynamic small business and entrepreneurial ecosystem, GoDaddy, the company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs, has launched new initiatives to help people create and support their businesses online during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

GoDaddy recently introduced #OpenWeStand, a global initiative to help small businesses stay open even when the physical doors are closed. In a developing country like India where COVID-19 is creating unique challenges for small businesses, this initiative aims to help these small business owners connect with each and share learnings, tools and insights on how to weather this storm together. By providing free online tools, educational content in the form of relevant blogs and useful updates from the WHO and health institutions, along with stories of worldwide customers rapidly adapting their businesses and community forums that allow virtual connection with fellow entrepreneurs on the microsite, GoDaddy aims to help customers prepare and adapt to the challenges presented by COVID-19 with these resources, all in one place online.

In these tough times, Indian businesses are increasingly pivoting online to survive, with keywords around “taking a business online”, “creating a website”, “digital business strategy”, registering high growth across online search engines and other digital platforms. According to the same sources, Indians are also going online to upskill themselves, with search volumes for “online courses” spiking in March, webinars gaining traction and Indian edtech platforms witnessing a surge in organic subscriptions. In order to help pave the way for this digital era of SMB success in India, GoDaddy is offering three business and technology upskilling courses from its newly created online educational platform - GoDaddy Academy, free of cost, to help the country's youth, emerging entrepreneurs and small business owners, get the required digital skilling and training to be able to ensure a successful future and a sustainable source of income in today’s challenging time.

The company is also offering its recently upgraded WordPress eCommerce Hosting for as low as INR 99 for three months, to help small businesses get their online stores up and running in the most efficient, affordable and quickest way possible. In addition, GoDaddy’s latest product solution - Online Starter Bundle, which provides an India-specific domain name, a starter one-page website, along with a secure professional email account, is currently being offered at INR 54/month. The aim is to help address the current needs and challenges of mini, micro and small business owners in India by enabling them to easily bring their ventures online.

Commenting on the situation, Nikhil Arora, Vice President and Managing Director, GoDaddy India, said, "At GoDaddy, we are for anyone who is keeping the economic health of small business top of mind in this challenging time. All these initiatives support our commitment to continually work towards innovating and creating solutions to help make it easier for our customers to create a digital presence. Our online tools and services, along with customer care guides, are available 24/7 to help our customers in India keep their business active.”