Global mobile money payment platform Alipay, owned by China’s Alibaba, an electronic commerce trader, plans to finance a local start-up in Kenya in partnership with local investors, Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma said on 20 July.
“I want to help you sell your great products to the world. This is not about the globalisation of Alibaba,” said Ma, speaking at a public lecture at the University of Nairobi.
Ma arrived in Nairobi this week as part of a UN initiative to inspire young entrepreneurs and innovators to take advantage of the internet and create products which could solve local challenges.
He said Alipay was prepared to enter the market through a locally registered enterprise which offers local investors a chance to own a Kenyan company.
“Alipay is definitely interested in entering the Kenyan market. We want to give money to a Kenyan company, not Alipay, because this is not about the globalisation of Alipay. We would like to help local payment companies. We are looking for people and talking to people,” Ma added.
Ma said Alibaba struggled to sell its first products online, relying instead on sales generated from staff. However, he said the company has grown to a US$556 billion enterprise, delivering 65 million packages all over China and creating 33 million jobs.
“I thought the company would grow but I never thought it would be this big. I believe 90 percent of all enterprises would be online. We have connected entrepreneurs,” Ma said.
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) secretary general Mukhisa Kituyi, said the setting up of a Chinese payment system would not mean Chinese products will begin to flood local markets in Africa.
Brian Wamatu, head of product development at M-pesa, told Development Finance it could learn from Alipay, which is used by 400 million people, compared to 26.6 million users of M-pesa services in Kenya.
M-pesa is planning to pioneer its first business-to-business financial product, though requires the approval of the country’s Central Bank to launch the product, Wamatu said on Thursday.
“A lot still needs to be done for us to go cash-lite in Kenya. We are working with partners on this aspect. We have already integrated government of Kenya payment system to the electronic Citizen portal, which saves citizens from long queues previously seen at the Kenya Revenue Authority for those seeking to obtain government services,” Wamatu said.