Alibaba Launches Entrepreneurs Fund for Hong Kong

Alibaba has launched an Entrepreneur Fund to help businesses fuel their growth.

Alibaba has stepped forward for the business community. It proclaimed the formal launch of its Entrepreneurs Fund for the Chinese special administrative region, Hong Kong, with the goal to support the ambitions of businesspersons wishing to benefit from the resources delivered by the its ecosystem in financial services, mobile networks, logistics, cloud computation, and ecommerce.

Alibaba news exclaimed that the Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund is its nonprofit initiative. The objective of this fund is to let businesspeople realize their visions and dreams for the regions to not only become vibrant but also globally and regionally involved. The fund would make investments in qualifying corporations in growth, expansion, and startup phases of the corporate life cycle. Qualifying enterprises would employ the systems in Alibaba’s ecosystem to provide services and gadgets to China and the world.

Alibaba wholesale informed that HK$1 billion has been allocated for the fund. Various accomplished community and business leaders would serve as directors of the fund’s board, including Asia Financial Group and Asia Insurance’s president Bernard Chan, Alibaba’s former president and COO Savio Kwan, and chairman and founder of Lan Kwai Fong Group, Dr. Allan Zeman.

Ms. Cindy Chow would be serving as the Fund’s executive director. Chow joined the online trading company eight years ago and has served in the planning and financial control capacity, most lately as senior director of international finance.

Alibaba news today affirmed that the executive vice chairman, Joe Tsai, stated, “At Alibaba our mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. We are passionate about fostering entrepreneurial spirit and hope the resources provided by the Fund will help unleash potential for innovation and entrepreneurship in Hong Kong. I am delighted to have the support from the Fund’s directors who share our vision and passion. Together we will help aspiring entrepreneurs realize their dreams.”

The Entrepreneur Fund would involve independent professional organizations who would be held responsible for managing the investment program. The fund has chosen its first investment manager Gobi Partners to carry out the management of a part of the investment project and anticipates to select further investment managers for the residual parts of the venture.

Alibaba Breaking News reported that Gobi Partners was developed over a decade ago, concentrating on local innovation that had emerged from IT, TMT convergence, and the transformation of digital media in the most populated country. Gobi is known for managing six funds with a number of offices across the Asian continent. For a time span of more than 10 years, he made investments in 100 innovative corporations in   Southeast Asia and the second largest economy.

The fund would also be providing 200 internships yearly for final year and graduate students of the local tertiary education institutes to serve for a year at Alibaba Group or organizations in its ecosystem in China.

Alibaba Chairman Addresses The APEC Summit About SMEs Empowerment

Alibaba's Chairman Jack Ma's speech focuses on the need to empower small businesses.

Alibaba wants to strengthen small businesses. Alibaba wholesale informed that the ecommerce company’s chairman and founder urged for the empowerment and support of more than 10 million small enterprises across the globe. On November 18, 2015, during the APEC CEO Summit organized in Makati, Mr. Ma centered his address on how to boost businesses by paying attention to the 1.5 billion people who belong to the Internet generation that is also called post-Millennials.  

Alibaba news affirmed that its founder challenged businesspersons to pay concentration to this generation by thinking how they could amend the means employed by their respective businesses to meet the requirements of the Internet generation. The Chinese billionaire also appreciated entrepreneurs belonging to this generation, while saying, "Young people make business based on technology, innovation, and based on the things they order.”

The Hangzhou-based organization established its enterprise as a mobile and online trading company offering mobile and online markets in wholesale and retail trade. He also stated that 125 million people are purchasing through their cellular phones each day.

Nevertheless, he did not attribute those figures to his organization, but to small enterprises located in different parts of the world. "[That number] was unimaginable 15 years ago", he stated. He suggested small businesspersons to develop their enterprises online first. He then gave his internet giant’s example to suggest means through which enterprises could grow over the internet.

He informed that this year, the Chinese online trading platform has been able to record sales worth $500bn, which equals the earnings of the American retail giant, Walmart.

Alibaba news today exclaimed that Mr. Ma proposed to develop an e-World Trade Organization for serving the interests of small enterprises and developing states, adding that the WTO had played a role in facilitating huge companies in the previous two decades and it is now the time to help those business persons hoping to establish their enterprises.

He acknowledged that small businesses’ entrepreneurs are often the most innovative strategists and thinkers. By emphasizing on the enterprises’ strengths, Jack is hoping that in the coming one to two decades, small businesspersons would turn into big people who would participate in future APEC summits.

He cautioned that by not offering assistance to least developed countries, young entrepreneurs, and small businesses would "create more and more disasters."

"Globalization really helped pump up the global economy. It helped the big companies and developed nations, but the developing nations and small guys did not benefit enough from globalization", he stated.

Alibaba Breaking News reported that Jack also explained that trading is not only concerned about buying and selling items.

"Trading is about the culture, passion, innovation, and creation. No matter wherever country you are, whatever size of company you are, trade is a freedom”, he stated.