China's Jack Ma announces support for African entrepreneurs, conservation efforts

Jack Ma, founder of the world's largest e-commerce trading platform Alibaba, attends a meeting with local entrepreneurs in Nairobi, Kenya, July 20, 2017. Ma is visiting Kenya in a tour arranged by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), to promote global entrepreneurship and to mentor young and upcoming entrepreneurs. (Xinhua/Lyu Shuai)

KIGALI, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese billionaire entrepreneur Jack Ma on Friday announced four projects to support African entrepreneurs, African young people and efforts of conservation in Africa.

"I will work with UNCTAD to support 200 African entrepreneurs in the next 5 years," said Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Ma, also special advisor of UNCTAD also announced that he will work with universities and governments to develop training program for African young people on e-commerce and cloud computing.

The third project is to set up a conservation award for conservation rangers. Every year, the award will be used to recognize 50 African wildlife conservation rangers who has been guarding natural heritages, said Ma.

"We plan to have the program lasting for 10 years to initiate a closer link in the conservation world between China and Africa," he said.

According to him, the award will be contributed by Alibaba Foundation and Paradise Foundation, a China-based conservation organization.