Ma Yun Delivers a Speech at the University of Nairobi

On July 20th local time, Ma Yun (Jack Ma), the founder and Chairman of the board of Alibaba Group, delivered a speech themed with “Giving a Hand to African Young and Small and Medium-sized Entrepreneurs” at the Chandaria Center for Performing Arts of the University of Nairobi, Kenya, where he conversed with hundreds of Kenyan youth. Kenya is the first stop of Ma Yun’s three-day visit to Africa. The speech received widespread attention from local media and a total of nearly 1500 people, who were at the main session, the parallel session and the lawn, listened to the speech via large screens.

China Daily introducing the event

The poster on the campus

Peter Mbithi, President of the University of Nairobi, expressed welcome to Ma Yun and his team and said that Ma Yun’s visit will spur Kenya's economy on to better development and that there will be more economic cooperation between China and Kenya.

Ma Yun mentioned in his speech how to win respect when getting along with others, taught the students of the university the skills for learning and pointed out that good teachers should hope their students to be more excellent than themselves and keep learning. He also explained how to face mistakes at work and career failures and the three Qs indispensable to success—EQ, IQ and LQ (Love Quotient). Ma Yun emphasized that the Internet is a good opportunity for Africa because Africa doesn’t have to follow the patterns of other places and this continent can develop on its own and avoid the bumpy roads that other places have gone through in development. For young people, being young is the capital. Therefore, young entrepreneurs shall not worry too much when starting a business since too many worries will hinder them from moving forward.

Ma Yun delivering a speech

The full-packed center

Ma Yun shared his opinions and insights from various aspects and explored with the youths of Kenya the opportunities to participate in the global trade. The young local entrepreneurs said that they got practical suggestions and inspiration from Ma Yun’s speech and the conversation with him.

As one of the co-organizers of this event, the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi undertook part of the work and ensured the orderly conduct of the event. Since its establishment, the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi has attracted a great number of enterprises to hold activities together. This event has brought new ideas of development to the Kenyan youths, further stimulating students’ enthusiasm for Chinese learning.