Kuala Lumpur - Alibaba, China's e-commerce company owned by billionaire Jack Ma, plans to build a logistics and e-commerce center in Malaysia. This project will be a center for the development of SMEs in ASEAN.
This is the first project built by Alibaba outside of China. The logistics and e-commerce center will be located near Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The project will be part of a digital free trade area launched by Jack Ma and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The project will be a centralized warehouse and inspection for Malaysia and the ASEAN region. It is not yet known how much the investment will be worth, but the project will start operating by the end of 2019.
Jack Ma has since November 2016 been a Malaysian government's digital economic advisor. Ma said 97% of Malaysian businesses are SMEs, but their share of the economy is less than 40%.
"I think 90% of SMEs can produce at least 80% of GDP." If we have more SMEs, then that means we create more jobs, 3/2017).
While PM Najib said, one sector that makes economic growth is above 10% is the digital economy.
Alibaba is the dominant e-commerce player in China. The company is often compared to Amazon and eBay.