Alibaba Group has joined with Grameen Trust of Bangladesh to create the Grameen China initiative, an effort to provide micro-lending services to China's poorest residents to create income-generating opportunities and help lift them to a higher standard of living.
Alibaba Group is providing initial funding for the creation of Grameen China through a charitable donation of $5 million. In addition, Alibaba Group will advise in areas like technology-based support to help potential recipients access the program and eventually build their businesses online. Alibaba Group will also help Grameen Trust attract potential supporting partners and other donors to the effort. Grameen China expects to begin making micro-credit loans available as soon as it receives regulatory approval from the authorities.
"We are at the beginning of an Internet-driven revolution where small businesses around the world will be able to compete with larger companies for customers like never before," said Jack Ma, founder, chairman and chief executive of Alibaba Group. "Micro-credit is the oxygen to make entrepreneurial dreams come alive. We are very pleased to join with Grameen Trust in this effort to create employment opportunities in these areas by helping tens of millions more small entrepreneurs create their businesses. We also welcome contribution from others and hope to build more partnerships in China."
Mr. Ma was in New York this week at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on a panel that included Al Gore, Chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection, to talk about harnessing innovation for development.
Alibaba Group's Jack Ma founded Taobao, a Chinese online-auction site, and Alibaba.com, an international ecommerce site.
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Alibaba Group has joined with Grameen Trust of Bangladesh to create the Grameen China initiative, an effort to provide micro-lending services to China's poorest residents to create income-generating opportunities and help lift them to a higher standard of living. 