Malaysian entrepreneurs share their business achievement to other participants during the first Asian reunion hosted by ABS.
Wong addressing his opening remarks during the reunion.
KUALA LUMPUR: Alibaba Business School (ABS) aims to inspire entrepreneurs in the Asian region to create inclusive and sustainable digital ecosystems in their home countries.
ABS had recently hosted its first-ever Asian reunion for eFounders Fellowship and Alibaba Netpreneur Training Programmes Graduates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Over 200 entrepreneurs and participants from Southeast Asia participated in this event to learn and network with up-and-coming entrepreneurs around the region and celebrate their success stories.
Alibaba Group vice president Brian Wong said, “Inspired from the programme, we are already seeing positive outcomes these digital champions are creating in their own way to give back to their community and help build local digital economy.
“Through our initiatives, our aim is to inspire entrepreneurs to create inclusive and sustainable digital ecosystems in their home countries and encourage collaborations across the region, while sharing the ecosystem’s benefits of bringing small businesses, entrepreneurs and other previously disadvantaged groups into the mainstream economy.”
As a core aspect of the group’s mission of making it easy to do business anywhere, Alibaba Group throughout the years has rolled out several education-related initiatives under the Alibaba Business School. These initiatives aim to empower entrepreneurs from emerging markets to leverage the power of digital economy to create economic development.
Until now, ABS, either on its own or in partnership with other institutions like UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), have trained over 350 entrepreneurs across Asia, out of which 114 are from Malaysia. These include participants from Alibaba Netpreneur Training and eFounders Fellowship Programmes.
The reunion session provided entrepreneurs across the regions with a platform to connect with each other, share their stories, learning and insights and tap into the Venture Capitals and partner communities that are supportive of the eFounders Fellowship programme. eFounders and Netpreneurs also participated in this programme with an aim to inspire other entrepreneurs to survive and thrive successfully, thereby making a greater contribution to the start-up community in their respective markets.
GoGet (a Malaysian start-up) chief executive officer (CEO and co-founder Francesca Chia commented: “Being a part of the eFounders Fellowship community has impacted GoGet’s journey in so many ways. What I love about the programme is the fact that I’m surrounded by a supportive and honest network of founders who are there to give me feedback and cheer me on at the same time.
“GoGet’s larger vision and strategy have been influenced by the learnings from the eFounders program. We’ve increased our collaborations across players in the industry, and we’re driving to a truly open platform for on-demand work. We’ve also built an ecosystem for our GoGetters on the platform to be able to not only earn from GoGet jobs, but also get access to on-demand insurance, micro savings, and, in future, borrowing and integrations with e-wallets.”
Nadhir Ashafiq, co-founder and executive director of The Lorry (a Malaysian start-up), said, “The Alibaba-UNCTAD eFounders program has exposed me to the digital revolution in China and Alibaba’s business ecosystem as a whole.
“An outside-in perspective is definitely different from actually being exposed to the inner workings of an organisation. I’m grateful for the opportunity to participate in this and I have already started implementing the learnings since I joined the programme.
“A key benefit of the programme is the access to the network of founders from all across Asia and the friendship you build with them during the course. This itself is a very valuable aspect and helped me tap into best practices from other entrepreneurs to build a better organisation.”