Alibaba Opens Internship Program For Hong Kong Students

As a part of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, Alibaba will open internship applications for local students in Hong Kong.

According to the South China Morning Post, it is believed that the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding will allow the Hong Kong students an internship at its ‘exclusive’ headquarters in Hangzhou for one year. The company has come forward to provide more details regarding its internship program in its headquarters, which promises an opportunity for all students in Hong Kong. Last year, the Chinese tech firm announced a special program for the youth generation, which would help them to develop their future.

The internship program is part of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund. Therefore, students studying at local universities of Hong Kong will have the authority to apply for internships in departments such as engineering, human resources, product development, and website design. The departments are specifically chosen so that the interns get an idea of the e-commerce as well as the Chinese market if they are appointed.

The chief executive director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, Cindy Chow, said, “Through this internship program, Hong Kong students will have the chance to learn the latest industrial practices in e-commerce, mobile payment, cloud computing and cross-border logistics in China by working at Alibaba Group or companies in the Alibaba ecosystem.”

The company stated that the program will start in June this year and will be running for six months with an option to double this time duration. Students who will apply for the internship would have the option to choose their work place. They can opt for Alibaba Group head quarter in either Hangzhou or its office in Guangzhou, which is located in southern Guangdong province of China.

Internship applications will be open for the students who are in their third year or last year of their specific bachelor degree courses. Apart from this, students of masters programs and tertiary education institutes in the region will be allowed to apply as well.

Alibaba’s fund will provide accommodation allowance and mentoring to the student during their tenure of internship. The chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of e-commerce, Joseph Yuen, is extremely content with the internship program. The Federation was established in 2015 in order to bolster its online retailing sector hence he believes that this program from one of the biggest online retailers will not only help the students to build their future but will help the country as well, overall.

On one side, Yuen is satisfied with the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund but he says that the students should not limit their vision on the Chinese market. He knows that the e-commerce industry is growing at a fast pace and the younger generation should be familiar with all the skills to assist businesses from all across the globe.

Alibaba Contributed $200 Million For Snapchat Fundraiser

Alibaba is one of the major investors of Snapchat, the photo messaging app, prior to its IPO in the upcoming times.

Alibaba Group Holding is one of the biggest businesses in the world that has disrupted the Chinese tech sector. Also, it is constantly tapping the United States market as well; hence, either it is supporting some company, opening an online website of interior designs, or investing in startups or other companies. For that matter, it is known for investing in a photo-messaging app, Snapchat, which is popular for showing people’s images for a certain amount of seconds, recently raised $650 million. A major chunk of investment comes from Alibaba.

Snapchat is a Los Angeles (LA) based startup that has scheduled its initial public offering (IPO) in the coming times. The company has managed to raise a staggering amount of $538 million from a funding round already, as stated by Security and Exchange Commission filing. The company is engaged in raising a huge amount for its upcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO) for a few months now. According to Financial Times, it is said that Alibaba Group invested $200 million, which increased the market value of the photo-messaging app to $15 billion. However, people familiar with the matter said that the final evaluated value might rise.

It is believed that according to the Security and Exchange Commission filing, the name list of other investors, apart from Alibaba, are not disclosed, but the current existing investors that have been a part of the company includes Yahoo, Benchmark, IVP, Coatue Management, and Kleiner Perkins. The substantial fundraising came when the chief executive and co-founder of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, warned this week that the technology industry could be overvalued. He said, “I think there will be a correction.” He further explained that when the time will be near, he would put in a lot of money to make it happen.

Mr. Evan Spiegel already planned to go public with his company despite of the fact that the business is still not mature enough in the market. This is the time where all tech companies and giants are preferring to remain private for as long as they can, but according to the co-founder of Snapchat, IPO is really important for any company. Furthermore, he explained that the plan is to remain independent rather than acquired or purchased by any other big company, such as Facebook, who recently planned to buy out the photo-messaging app.

Prior to its IPO in the coming times, Snapchat has hired Imran Khan as the chief strategy officer, who also helped and led Alibaba to a record IPO last year.