Chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba, Jack Ma expected to visit Ethiopia in November. Ethiopia ambassador to China Teshome Toga on his Twitter page said that the chairman would visit Ethiopia at the invitation of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Last April, prime minister Abiy visited Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, China and received by the chairman. On the visit, Ma agreed to consider potential investment in Ethiopia that will affect the everyday lives of the people. He also said that Ethiopia is a strategic partner and promised to make a visit this year.
Jack Ma, 54, is co-founder and executive chair of Alibaba, a multinational conglomerate company which focuses on e-commerce, Internet, retail, and technology. Ma is considered as a global Chinese business ambassador; he was listed many times on Forbes as one of the most influential people in the world. He is now one of China’s richest men with a net worth of $35.6bn.
The arrival of The chairman of the world’s largest e-commerce and retailer company, in Ethiopia considered as an excellent opportunity for the Ethiopian technology sector. “This is a big opportunity for some of the Tech startups in Ethiopia to showcase their products and get a significant boost,” commented a person in Ethiopia who works on technology services.
Furthermore, the Ethiopian delegation led by the Ministry of Information Technology Getachew Mekuria arrived at the headquarters of Alibaba in Hangzhou today for a tailored training designed for Ethiopian officials as agreed with prime minister Abiy during his visit in April.