On October 1st, 2022, the Africa’s Business Heroes Africa Office Launch event was held in Kigali, Rwanda. H.E. WANG Xuekun, Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda, Hon. Clare Akamanzi, CEO of Rwanda Development Board, Mr. Jason Pau, Executive Director of international programs of the Jack Ma Foundation, Mr. Fred Swaniker, founder and CEO of the African Leadership Group, finalists and judge representatives attended the event.

Ambassador WANG commented at the event that “Employment is the basis of people's livelihood and the source of wealth”. China-Africa ties have achieved fast expansion and demonstrated fresh vitality with fruitful cooperation in all areas especially in the field of capacity building and employment promotion. Last year, the successful completion and handover of the expansion Project of IPRC MUSANZE provides a superior platform for more Rwandan professional talents to grow, and plays a positive role in accelerating the development of skills education and training in Rwanda, improving employability and labor income of youth, and the speed-up of economic transformation and upgrading. China is willing to take the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) as an opportunity to push for continuous development of bilateral friendly cooperative relations, so as to create benefits for both countries and their people.

After the 8th FOCAC ministerial conference, China and Africa have overcome the impact of the pandemic, implemented the “The Nine Programs”. “The Capacity Building Program” of “The Nine Programs” aims to foster internal growth drivers in Africa and promote quality and effective China-Africa cooperation. As a long-standing supporter for Africa’s human resources development, China will continue to provide a large number of education and training opportunities for African countries to train various types of talents and enhance self-development capacity of African countries.

Africa’s Business Heroes Prize Competition co-established by Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation in 2018 aims to inspire African entrepreneurs to start their own business. The Competition plans to cultivate 100 entrepreneurial heroes in 10 years to promote talent cultivation and economic development in Africa. Since the launch of the fourth competition, nearly 21,000 entrepreneurs from 54 African countries have participated. On September 30th, the top 10 finalists emerged from the semifinals, and the Grand Final will be held at the end of the year.