Jack Ma, The founder of the Chinese “unicorn”, Alibaba Group, will be in the country for the first time this week to address South African start-ups and entrepreneurs.

 He will speak tomorrow at the “Netrepreneur: the rise of Africa’s digital lions” event. 

The “Netrepreneur Prize” initiative aims to create a community of 100 young African entrepreneurs by 2030 through grants totalling $10million (R133m). 

Ma is an adviser to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) on youth entrepreneurship and small businesses. 

The event will also be addressed by Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, the secretary-general of Unctad. 

The challenges and opportunities facing a digital Africa and the role that the public sector, investors, entrepreneurs and educational organisations must play in this transformation will be discussed.  -Business Report