President Uhuru Kenyatta when he met Alibaba founder Jack Ma at State House on Thursday. [Photo/PSCU]
President Uhuru Kenyatta Thursday held a meeting with Chinese billionaire entrepreneur Jack Ma to discuss ways of empowering the youth through entrepreneurship.
The talks between the President and Mr Ma, who is the founder of the online retail giant Alibaba, centred on how to empower the youth through trade and innovation.
They discussed how to cooperate in supporting small businesses and the youth to play a bigger role in the country’s economy.
The Chinese billionaire said Kenya can create more opportunities for trade through the use of e-commerce and that the country has the capacity to achieve that goal.
President Kenyatta said the Chinese businessman is an inspiration for millions of youth in Africa and especially in Kenya where the young generation has been setting global trends in innovation and technology.
Mr Ma is accompanied by 38 other billionaires from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce who are in the country in search of multi-billion dollar business opportunities with the Government as well as local businesspeople.
The businessman who is worth US$41.8 billion is scheduled to give a public lecture at the University of Nairobi in the afternoon today.
The meeting was also attended by Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed, and Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.