Women are the ‘secret sauce’ behind the rapid growth of Alibaba

At its second Global Conference on Women and Entrepreneurship, with over 1,500 participants, Alibaba credited women as the ‘secret sauce’ behind the rapid growth of Alibaba.

Themed- Altruism, Inclusiveness, and Dreams, the first day of the conference saw women from across the globe discussing issues of empowerment and gender equality.

“Our mission is to enable every individual to realize their dreams regardless if they are men or women,” Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma told the audience. “Eighteen years since we founded Alibaba, it has consistently been female coworkers that pushed me forward.”

The objective of the two-day conference is to draw on the experience and know-how of successful women business leaders and influencers to enlighten female entrepreneurs, business leaders, policy-makers and role models for future generations on advancement in the SHE·ERA.

Attendees on the first day included Ms. Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. She was joined by President of the World Bank Group Mr. Jim Yong Kim, who delivered a keynote speech on woman’s transformative force, after an opening speech by video from Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. Ms. Vera Wang, Fashion Designer, shared her thoughts with the audience on women and reinvention.

At a time when the Silicon Valley is facing flak from the world over for its abysmal and skewed gender representation, Chinese Internet major is leading by example. Women account for 47 percent of Alibaba Group’s 50,000-plus employees. One-third of Alibaba Group founders are women, one third of partners are women and one third of its management executives are women.

Let’s hope, this inspires other tech companies to follow the suit and improve the women representation in their businesses.