Jack Ma’s Big Plan for Indonesian Tech
What’s the Deal?
Jack Ma, the mastermind behind Alibaba, is on a mission to turn Indonesia into a tech talent powerhouse.
He’s already serving as a tech guru for the government, but now he wants to start a Jack Ma Institute of Entrepreneurs that will feed the next decade of digital leaders.
Why It Matters
- Indonesia has a serious gap when it comes to engineering expertise.
- By giving thousands of young people a chance to learn cloud‑computing and software wizardry, we’ll get the country moving into the digital era.
Ma doesn’t have a launch date yet but hopes to recruit about 1,000 tech pros each year for the next ten years.
More Than Just Online Shopping
Alibaba’s cloud compute arm, Alibaba Cloud, just opened a data centre in Jakarta, and Ma says the company keeps investing in e‑commerce, cloud, logistics, and infrastructure—all of which are crucial for local businesses.
Boosting Exports
Communications Minister Rudiantara recently said that Indonesia is teaming up with Ma’s business tools to help boost exports, especially to China.
Context in Numbers
McKinsey’s latest prediction says Indonesia’s e‑commerce market could hit $55 billion by 2022, a huge jump from $8 billion in 2017.
Thoughts from a Global Summit
At the IMF and World Bank meetings in Indonesia, Ma laughed, calling the internet a “developer’s playground” that’s especially great for developing countries, with “great opportunities in Africa” as well.
