This archive report was first published on 9 September 2019.
On September 20th, 24 Rwandan students will begin a four-year undergraduate program at Alibaba Business School to train in international business and cross-border e-commerce.
The program, fully funded by the Higher Education Council of Rwanda and Alibaba, is part of a broader partnership between Alibaba and the Rwandan government to promote digital trade and economic growth.
Alibaba's New Retail-powered supermarket chain, Freshippo, has also signed a memorandum with the Rwanda Development Board, agreeing to import Rwandan chili to its 150 self-operated stores in China.
As part of the partnership, Rwanda has agreed to continue its membership in the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), an Alibaba-led initiative that aims to lower barriers to global trade for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) via e-commerce.
Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma first pledged to support the growth of the digital economy in Africa in 2017, opening up Alibaba Business School to train e-commerce talent among Rwandan teachers.
“We’ve seen great momentum through our collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board to provide capacity-building to all key stakeholders who are drivers of the digital economy,” said Alibaba Vice President of Global Initiatives Brian Wong.
