Rwandan startups to return after two weeks e-commerce training. (image: garagestock)
Three Rwandan entrepreneurs who were part of the 25 Africans selected to participate in the inaugural eFounders Initiative Entrepreneurship Training Programme organised by Alibaba Business School are expected to return to Rwanda to apply all the knowledge they acquired. The entrepreneurs were selected by founder and chairman of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma.
The three startups, namely; AgriGO, Mergims and Pikkostores Ltd graduated Thursday, 23 November 2017 and are expected to return in coming days and apply what they acquired.
Pikkostores is an online shopping and selling platform providing customers shopping experience and retailers. AgriGO, a startup that assists farmer to improve yield by availing the right, modern and personalised best practices. MERGIMS connects migrants to merchants in their countries of origin, so they can buy electricity, airtime, mortgages and pay tuition fees for their relatives
The eFounders Initiative Entrepreneurship Training Programme includes a two-week course at the Alibaba Business School and will take 25 entrepreneurs from throughout Africa to learn from e-commerce companies Alibaba, Taobao.com and Tmall.com.
The young entrepreneurs were selected to work at Alibaba headquarters with the aim of gaining experience in fields including; e-commerce, Artificial intelligence and Internet.
The programme, was implemented in partnership with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and various learning institutions will also see Chinese business experts train the youth in African countries.
During his visit to Rwanda, Ma advised entrepreneurs to take advantage of technological innovations and the massive potential of the Internet to build businesses and solve the continent’s day-to-day challenges.
Alibaba is tapping into big data. The online company has information about its 450 million active users across not just e-Commerce, but also entertainment, travel, payments, and mapping, among others.
The firm uses the data to manage customer demand, preferences and other consumer behaviours in order to enhance their experiences.
Edited by Fundisiwe Maseko
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