Jack Ma, the founder and manager of the Chinese merchant site Alibaba, a competitor of the American Amazon, announced the launch on July 23, 2017, of a fund for young African entrepreneurs, in the amount of $ 10 million. “I want this resource to support the development of e-commerce in Africa,” said the adviser to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on youth entrepreneurship and small businesses.
Still according to Jack Ma, the money is already ready and he does not need any authorization to release it. Once its management teams are in place, the fund should begin operations before the end of 2017. In the same context, 200 young African entrepreneurs will be invited to Alibaba’s sites in China, in order to teach them the keys to the success of this business. The mode of selection of potential candidates was not given.
Jack Ma announced the news from Kigali in Rwanda, where he was continuing his African tour, a first for him. He was attending the Youth Konnect Africa summit, co-hosted by the government of Rwanda, and UNCTAD.
Before that, he had met nearly 500 young people in Kenya, where he also shared the experience of his adventure with Alibaba, founded in 1999, which today is valued at more than $ 231 billion.
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