German tech giant donates millions more to help Hubei SMEs

German tech giant SAP announced on Wednesday that it will donate software products and supporting services valued at more than 15 million yuan ($2.14 million) to help small and medium-sized enterprises in Hubei, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, to establish a digital system and realize post-disaster reconstruction.

In addition, SAP is providing an additional cash donation of over 3 million yuan on top of an already-donated 3 million yuan. Up to now, the total SAP donation has exceeded 20 million yuan, fully demonstrating SAP's corporate social responsibility in China, the company said in a statement.

Sam Li, SAP global senior vice-president and general manager of China, said: "Taking root in China for 25 years, SAP has always been committed to working with partners and safeguarding the success of Chinese customers. In times of crisis, we will build on our core business advantages to build a solid line of defense for the interests of customers, and make further contributions to help China get back to work and aid in economic recovery."

It has been nearly three months since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, which has caused deep business challenges to SMEs. To help them survive the difficult period and resume production, SAP is leveraging its SAP Wuhan Empowerment Center established in 2019 in cooperation with Qiaokou district in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province.

They will use the center as a platform to provide software and services for SMEs in Wuhan and Hubei to build digital capabilities and achieve end-to-end operations. This will help alleviate the problem of tight cash flows for SMEs and insufficient funds for digital transformation. This move will also benefit the regional economy of Wuhan and help achieve the goal of rapid recovery and prosperity, the company said.