UNCTAD, Alibaba Enrolls Fourth Batch In eFounders Fellowship Programme

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in association with Alibaba Business School has enrolled its class four of entrepreneurs in a bid to empower them to build sustainable startups in developing economies.

A total of 40 participants from various sectors such as ecommerce, logistics, fintech, tourism and big data, etc, from 11 Asian countries will be participating in this programme.

The programme known as the eFounders Fellowship was began as the first step toward completing the goal set by Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Ma who is also the special adviser for young entrepreneurs is aimed at empowering 1K entrepreneurs in the developing countries over the next five years.

The initiative is also looking to reduce the digital divide faced by young entrepreneurs in developing countries. The programme allows the participants to grasp the opportunities of the inclusive ecommerce ecosystems.

The eFounders Fellowship programme, has already enrolled three classes. It started out with a pilot project which included 24 African entrepreneurs as participants. The second class included 37 entrepreneurs from Southeast Asia and South Asia while the third class saw participation from 29 Africa-based entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs from Singapore, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar will be joining this programme for the first time. The earlier batches included their peers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Pakistan.

What’s In Store For The Startups

According to the official website, in order to attain sustainable development goals, UNCTAD and Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba Group, collaborated and began the eFounders Fellowship programme in 2017.

During this current programme, the selected 40 participants will be undergoing an intensive bootcamp for 14 days. This will help the participants get a first-hand exposure to the best practises in ecommerce space and also get to understand innovations from China and other countries around the globe.

The programme allows the participants to grasp the opportunities of the inclusive ecommerce ecosystems.

Upon completion of the programme, all the participants, who are startup founders, will be graduating as eFounders Fellows, a community of like-minded young entrepreneurs who will then catalyse digital transformation in their home countries.

Brian A. Wong, Vice President of China-based Alibaba Group, who heads the Global Initiatives programme said, “We aim to inspire entrepreneurs from these regions to serve as evangelists in building a more inclusive digital development model that is good for their business and at the same time spread the digital economy paradigm in these countries and benefit the society at large”.

This is not the first initiative that the group has taken to develop the Indian startup ecosystem as earlier in July, the Alibaba Group launched a new distribution channel programme to focus on the different Indian market sectors such as startup and online businesses. The programme is aimed at encouraging partners to bring in-depth technical knowledge to customers.

Two years back Alibaba joined hands with India’s Globals Inc, to establish a startup incubator in order to focus on mobile internet and mobile commerce.