Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD), Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba Group, Yinager Dessie (PhD), central bank governor, and Eyob Tekalign (PhD), state minister for Finance, visited the ICT Park in Addis Abeba on Monday, November 25, 2019. In the same week, another of the tech world’s influential entrepreneurs, Twitter's CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey, also visited the capital.
Jack Ma and Prime Minister Abiy oversaw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ethiopian government represented by Getahun Mekuria (PhD), minister of Innovation & Technology, and Alibaba Group, represented by Eric Jing, group director and financial services chairperson and CEO.
Following a different approach and seemingly more focused on understanding the technological environment for himself, Jack Dorsey of Twitter made the rounds by visiting with Ethiopia’s tech enthusiasts.
The MoU is to establish an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) hub in Ethiopia. The trading platform, which is the latest initiative that Jack Ma is promoting, is meant to facilitate smart logistics and cross-border trade enabling Ethiopian small and micro enterprises to reach global markets.
"By collaborating in these platforms," said Jack Ma, “Africa can compete with Europe and America. In the past, we believed in big; for the future, we believe in small; small is beautiful.”
The Chinese billionaire also pledged to help the country develop its entrepreneurship training capacity.
The Chinese billionaire also pledged to help the country develop its entrepreneurship training capacity. Abiy’s administration is keen to open the country for more private-sector economic activity in general and to attract more international players in particular. One of the strategies to achieve these goals is creating a digital economy. Eyob tweeted, “Ethiopia is serious about building a digital economy.”
Following a different approach and seemingly more focused on understanding the technological environment for himself, Jack Dorsey of Twitter made the rounds by visiting with Ethiopia’s tech enthusiasts.
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