Alibaba Group has launched its Entrepreneurs Fund for Hong Kong, which is aimed at entrepreneurs wanting to take advantage of the resources offered by Alibaba’s ecosystem in e-commerce, logistics, mobile platforms, cloud computing and financial services.
The Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, a not-for-profit initiative, will invest in qualifying companies in the start-up, growth and expansion phases of the company life cycle. Qualifying businesses will leverage the platforms in the Alibaba ecosystem to offer products and services to mainland China and the world. HKD1 billion has been earmarked for the Hong Kong Fund.
A number of accomplished business and community leaders will join the board of directors of the Fund. They will oversee the governance and provide strategic direction of the Fund. The board of directors of The Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund includes Dr Allan Zeman, founder and chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group; Bernard Chan, president of Asia Financial Group and Asia Insurance, and Savio Kwan, an independent business consultant who was instrumental in developing Alibaba as president and chief operating officer from 2001 to 2003.
Cindy Chow, who joined Alibaba Group in 2007 and has worked in the financial control and planning capacity, most recently as senior director of international finance, will serve as the executive director of the Fund.
“At Alibaba our mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere,” says Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group. “We are passionate about fostering entrepreneurial spirit and hope the resources provided by the Fund will help unleash potential for innovation and entrepreneurship in Hong Kong. I am delighted to have the support from the Fund’s directors who share our vision and passion. Together we will help aspiring entrepreneurs realise their dreams.”
The Fund will engage independent professional firms (the “Investment Managers”) to manage the investment program. The Fund has selected its first Investment Manager, Gobi Partners, to manage a portion of the investment program and expects to make further selections of Investment Managers for the remaining portions of the program. Gobi Partners was established over ten years ago, focusing on home-grown innovation that was emerging from IT, TMT convergence, and the digital media revolution in China. Gobi now manages six funds with offices across Asia. For over a decade, Gobi invested in over 100 innovative companies in China and Southeast Asia.
