With the increasing uptake of internet in Africa, a firm should ignore having an online presence at its own peril and though advertising is costly, and SME’s have low marketing budgets, they still have to do it.

Yalwa, a free online business directory with business pages for SME’s has launched in Africa to help small business owners list their firms for free and as well link back to their websites, if they have one.

Launched in 2007 in Germany by Yalwa, a web applications firm, the directory is now available in over 50 countries, the firm gives businesses in various categories to list their products or services for users across the world. The SME’s use the pages to reach their customers and also target all potential ones. The firm says the Yalwa Business Directory help SME’s reach out to the community for free and as well send word out about their products and services.

According to Klaus Gapp, CEO and founder Yalwa in an earlier statement, “In this volatile economy, small businesses are the ones struggling the most to keep their business alive during the global recession. Marketing budgets are tight. We at Yalwa believe that free local marketing can make a real difference to small business owners.”

Mocality shut down 28 2013. Read here for more details.