Alibaba Chief Executive Announces New Investment Fund for African Entrepreneurs
Chinese business man Jack Ma, who created Alibaba in 1999 then turned it into an e-commerce powerhouse worth more than $231 billion, believes Africa is overflowing with talent.
The Youthconnekt Africa summit held in Kigali in July, co-organized by UNCTAD and the Rwandan government, was the opportunity for Mr. Ma to introduce his new financial project. An investment fund called African Young Entrepreneurs destined for Africans entrepreneurs, should see the light of the day. Ma intends to personally invest $10 billion to start the fund. His appetite for new technology and e-commerce has driven the project, as he particularly wishes to support innovation in those fields, "Like it or not, e-commerce, internet and Big Data is the future. There’s no stopping it," he said. The investment fund should begin operations before the end of 2017.
Camille Guével
