<p>Harini V</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/12/africa-faces-challenges-but-is-on-the-path-to-greater-resilience-ceo-.html">Africa faces challenges but is on the path to greater resilience: CEO</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Despite being hit by external headwinds, Africa is on the path to becoming more resilient with infrastructure projects and sound government policies in place, the president and CEO of a development finance institution told CNBC Thursday.</li>
<li>&#8220;South Africa, Nigeria, Angola have dragged the continent behind,&#8221; said Samaila Zubairu president and CEO of Africa Finance Corporation.</li>
</ul>
<p>Even though countries in Africa  have been hit by external headwinds, the continent is well on the path to becoming more resilient with infrastructure projects and sound government policies in place, said the president and CEO of a development finance institution on Thursday.</p>
<p>&#8220;South Africa, Nigeria, Angola have dragged the continent behind,&#8221; Samaila Zubairu, president and CEO of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), told CNBC at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Bali, Indonesia.</p>
</p>
<p>Those three economies — the largest in Africa — have performed below expectations, according to the IMF which said the continent as a whole would stand to benefit if the three countries were performing up to their potential.</p>
<p>The larger economies in Africa are &#8220;heavily dependent on commodity prices&#8221; and face more serious challenges compared to smaller countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania that have fared better in terms of growth, Zubairu added.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/105500770-1539253589126gettyimages-909184932.1910x1000.jpeg" alt="Pre-WEF breakfast briefing ahead of Davos" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Moeletsi Mabe| Sunday Times | Gallo Images | Getty Images"/></p>
<p>Another challenge Africa faces is rising United States interest rates which affect the level of investments in businesses, he said.</p>
<p>However, as African governments increase spending in infrastructure, agriculture and move away from being overly import-dependent, the outlook for growth is positive, Zubairu added.</p>
<p>&#8220;The continent itself has resilience now. You know with the adjustment by governments away from, I would say, import dependent growth,&#8221; Zubairu explained. &#8220;There is a lot of emphasis on driving agricultural spending. There&#8217;s a lot of investment in infrastructure, all of which would &#8230; accelerate the shared growth in the continent.&#8221;</p>
</p>
<p>China&#8217;s 300 million funding to AFC</p>
<p>&#8220;Infrastructure spending &#8230; I think is one of the things that are required to lift the continent,&#8221; Zubairu said.</p>
<p>AFC has reportedly acquired a $300 million loan facility from a Chinese state-funded and state-owned policy bank, the Export-Import Bank of China, for development projects in the continent.</p>
<p> Some experts have raised questions about whether Chinese investments in Africa come with<br />
strings attached<br />
.</p>
<p>Zubairu said that the $300 million investment does not mean that AFC has to buy more Chinese exports in return.</p>
<p>However, he added: &#8220;There are certain projects that &#8230; can be tied to Chinese export(s) and we would consider those. But the one we have for now is &#8230; not tied to a specific Chinese export(s),&#8221; he said.</p>
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<p/>
<p/>
<p/>


Africa faces challenges but is on the path to greater resilience: CEO

<p>Yen Nee Lee</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/11/imf-world-bank-annual-meetings-regulators-at-bali-fintech-agenda-.html">Fintech won&#8217;t drain money away from banks, regulators say</a></p>
<ul>
<li>The rise of financial technology — more commonly known as fintech — won&#8217;t threaten the existence of banks, policymakers and regulators said at the IMF-World Bank annual meetings on Thursday.</li>
<li>It&#8217;s the responsibility of authorities to make sure that traditional banks are prepared for changes in their industry, they added.</li>
</ul>
<p>The rise of financial technology — more commonly known as fintech — won&#8217;t threaten the existence of banks and it&#8217;s the responsibility of authorities to make sure that traditional lenders are prepared for changes in their industry, policymakers and regulators said in a CNBC-moderated panel Thursday.</p>
<p>The comments were made in Bali, Indonesia where the<br />
International Monetary Fund<br />
 and the<br />
World Bank<br />
 are holding their annual meetings. The two organizations on Thursday jointly launched a paper, the<br />
Bali Fintech Agenda<br />
, to help policymakers around the world strike a balance between encouraging financial innovation and safeguarding the stability of the system.</p>
<p>CNBC&#8217;s Geoff Cutmore moderated a panel discussion in Bali to discuss the contents of the paper. He asked the panelists whether it&#8217;s a good idea to allow fintech firms to &#8220;cherry pick&#8221; profitable segments of the banking industry to operate in — therefore taking money away from a legacy system that&#8217;s built up over decades and has weathered financial crises.</p>
<p>That question, according to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, is akin to asking &#8220;whether it&#8217;s a good idea to protect the banks from serving consumers better?&#8221;</p>
<p>Carney, who was one of the panelists at the event, said many small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom face high costs in tapping the formal banking system for funds. Therefore, reaching those businesses through fintech is &#8220;not taking liquidity away, that&#8217;s providing new liquidity&#8221; into the financial system, he said.</p>
<p>The key is to ensure that technological transformation in the financial industry can bring about the maximum benefit and at a minimum costs, which is a &#8220;classical problem&#8221; that many policymakers face, said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia&#8217;s finance minister who was also a panelist.</p>
<p>The Indonesian government&#8217;s stance, she added, is that technology can not only help to improve existing ways of doing things but also to pressure the incumbents to improve their business models.</p>
<p>&#8220;For the existing business model, like banking, can they do innovation just as agile and innovative? It could be that some of them could come up with a totally different idea and that&#8217;s good,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>As the financial industry increases its technology adoption, the crop of regulators — too — need be refreshed, noted Lesetja Kganyago, governor of the South Africa Reserve Bank.</p>
<p>&#8220;Regulators are usually lawyers and accountants, but we need people who understand data science and technology,&#8221; he said during the panel discussion.</p>


Fintech won’t drain money away from banks, regulators say

<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Uac2C1g9HZA" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Financial technology &#8211; or fintech &#8211; is transforming the world’s economic landscape. But the world of cashless payments, crowdfunding platforms and d&#8230;</p>


IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings: The Bali Fintech Agenda

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<p>Trade is at the forefront of a worldwide conversation right now, with the International Monetary Fund cutting its global growth forecasts, citing trad&#8230;</p>


IMF Annual Meetings: How global trade can promote growth for all

<p>Sam Meredith</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/turkey-south-africa-struggling-to-impose-credible-economic-policies.html">&#8216;Kicking and screaming&#8217;: Turkey and South Africa are struggling to impose credible economic policies</a></p>
<ul>
<li>&#8220;South Africa, together with Turkey, are at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to policy credibility,&#8221; Lutfey Siddiqi, visiting professor-in-practice at the London School of Economics (LSE), told CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk Box Europe&#8221; on Wednesday.</li>
<li>On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019.</li>
<li>The IMF also warned the normalizing of U.S. interest rates could pressure some emerging markets with capital outflows — most notably Turkey, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Turkey  and South Africa both appear to be unwilling to implement meaningful economic policies, one analyst told CNBC on Wednesday.</p>
<p>&#8220;South Africa, together with Turkey, are at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to policy credibility,&#8221; Lutfey Siddiqi, visiting professor-in-practice at the London School of Economics (LSE), told CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk Box Europe&#8221; on Wednesday.</p>
<p>&#8220;Credibility will be built based on action, not just on rhetoric,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (<br />
IMF<br />
) cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 by 0.2 percentage points to 3.7 percent. It also lowered projections for the increase in goods and services trade worldwide.</p>
<p>The Washington D.C.-based institute also warned the U.S.-China trade war was already showing signs of<br />
negatively impacting global growth<br />
, while emerging markets were struggling with tighter liquidity and capital outflows.</p>
<p>The IMF also said the balance of the risks were now tilted towards the downside, with rising interest rates likely to hurt emerging markets further at a time when U.S.-led demand growth would soon start to slow as some tax cuts expire.</p>
<p>To be sure, the normalizing of U.S. interest rates could pressure some emerging markets with capital outflows — most notably Turkey, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia.</p>
<p>Rollercoaster ride</p>
<p>LSE&#8217;s Siddiqi argued that even though a country like Indonesia was in more a precarious economic position than many other emerging markets, its central bank&#8217;s response &#8220;feels like it&#8217;s part of a plan&#8221; to improve the situation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Whereas in the case of South Africa — or Turkey certainly — it feels like (they are) kicking and screaming and dragging a change … Do they really want to do it or not?&#8221;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10120226/105409929-1534932148728gettyimages-901176426.1910x1000.jpeg" alt="TURKEY-DAILY-LIFE-FEATURE" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="BULENT KILIC | AFP | Getty Images"/></p>
<p>The last few months have been<br />
nothing short of a rollercoaster ride<br />
 for Turkish assets, which have seen a massive sell-off thanks to investor concerns over the central bank&#8217;s independence and a diplomatic fight between Turkish President Recep Erdogan and Washington.</p>
<p>Fears of contagion and a wider emerging markets shake-up culminated in Turkey&#8217;s central bank increasing its benchmark interest rate to 24 percent last month. The move exceeded market expectations and helped to steady the lira against the dollar.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the Turkish currency has fallen around 40 percent against the greenback this year.</p>
<p>Policy credibility</p>
<p>Meanwhile, South Africa&#8217;s finance minister Nhlanhla Nene resigned on Tuesday. It comes after Nene admitted meeting with members of the Gupta family — who have been accused of corruption.</p>
<p>Nene has since been replaced by former central bank governor Tito Mboweni. His appointment constitutes the fifth change of finance minister since 2014.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10120233/105497990-1539161190867turkeysouthafrica.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Kayhan Ozer | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images"/></p>
<p>South Africa&#8217;s rand and bond markets have reacted badly to the upheavals, though the currency firmed on the news of Nene&#8217;s departure. The rand stood at 14.6288 against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, down more than 15 percent year-to-date.</p>
<p>&#8220;I remember in 2015, (South Africa) had three finance ministers over a span over four days so while we welcome the appointment of a new finance minister, credibility is not built in a day,&#8221; Siddiqi said.</p>
<p>Moody&#8217;s rating agency is scheduled to review its stance on South Africa on Friday, with Mboweni&#8217;s appointment seen restoring stability for an economy now in recession.</p>
<p>
— CNBC&#8217;s Natasha Turak contributed to this report.</p>


‘Kicking and screaming’: Turkey and South Africa are struggling to impose credible economic policies

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<p>Technology is changing the way we work. While it promises more economic growth and new jobs, other jobs are being lost and inequality is on the rise. &#8230;</p>


IMF Annual Meetings: Social protection and the future of work

<p>Nyshka Chandran</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/south-africa-less-vulnerable-reserve-bank-governor-lesetja-kganyago-.html">South Africa is now &#8216;less vulnerable,&#8217; says central bank head</a></p>
<ul>
<li>South Africa&#8217;s economy has recovered from a few years ago, Lesetja Kganyago, governor of the South African Reserve Bank, told CNBC at the International Monetary Fund&#8217;s annual meeting on Wednesday.</li>
<li>The nation &#8220;is in a much better position&#8221; to absorb shocks from global monetary policy tightening, he said.</li>
</ul>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/14160235/101587040-107233710.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Getty Images"/></p>
<p>Political uncertainty has rattled South Africa financial markets but the country&#8217;s central bank wants investors to know that economic fundamentals remain sound.</p>
<p>Citing improvements in the current account deficit and budget deficit as well as a positive net international investment position, South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the economy has recovered from a few years ago.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not saying we are not vulnerable, I&#8217;m saying that we are less vulnerable,&#8221; Kganyago told CNBC on Wednesday at the<br />
International Monetary Fund&#8217;s<br />
 annual meeting, which was held on the Indonesian island of Bali.</p>
<p>Around 90 percent of government debt is domestic currency denominated, with only 10 percent in foreign currency, Kganyago pointed out. Moreover, the country&#8217;s floating exchange rate means the nation &#8220;is in a much better position&#8221; to absorb shocks from global monetary policy tightening,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>The<br />
South African rand<br />
 was trading at three-week lows earlier this week after<br />
Nhlanhla Nene resigned as finance minister<br />
 but it recovered once President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Tito Mboweni, a former central bank governor, to replace Nene.</p>
<p>Kganyago expressed confidence in Mboweni&#8217;s ability to manage state finances, but cautioned against expectations of immediate action: &#8220;The new minister of finance must be given the time and space to familiarize himself with the task at hand.&#8221;</p>


South Africa is now ‘less vulnerable,’ says central bank head

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<p>How do you save for a year-long round-the-world trip, and have enough left for a second year?  Finance professional and former full-time traveler Xine&#8230;</p>


This 29-year-old quit her job in finance to travel the world for 2 years | CNBC Profiles

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<p>Elon Musk’s dream of hyperloop travel is getting closer to reality. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies unveiled its first full-scale passenger ca&#8230;</p>


Hyperloop’s first full-scale passenger capsule | CNBC Reports

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<p>Premier League kit prices are hitting an all-time high, with the average price of a full ensemble now costing more than $125. CNBC&#8217;s Adam Reed explain&#8230;</p>


Would you pay $235 for a football kit? | CNBC Sports

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<p>It’s the king of economic statistics. Gross domestic product is an important tool to measure the health and strength of a country’s economy, but i&#8230;</p>


What is GDP? | CNBC Explains

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<p>Cyberattacks have quickly become one of the global economy’s biggest threats. So what can governments do to stop cyberwar? CNBC’s Elizabeth Schulz&#8230;</p>


How do you stop a cyberwar? | CNBC Explains

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<p>It’s been legal to buy and smoke marijuana in Amsterdam’s coffee shops for decades &#8211; but there are still big regulatory hurdles for the city’s c&#8230;</p>


Amsterdam’s jealous of America’s weed industry | CNBC Reports

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<p>China is in a trade war with the United States. Will it face a serious slowdown? CNBC&#8217;s Xin En Lee explains the factors behind China&#8217;s growth trajecto&#8230;</p>


Is China’s growth story over? | CNBC Explains

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<p>An average of 10,000 trucks cross the English Channel every day, making the Port of Dover an essential point of entry for European goods into the U.K&#8230;.</p>


Brexit: Is it over for the Port of Dover? | CNBC Reports

<ul>
<li>Alibaba said on Monday that CEO Daniel Zhang will take over as chairman of the board in a year, succeeding current executive chairman Jack Ma.</li>
<li>Ma will remain in his role as executive chairman for the next 12 months to ensure a smooth transition.</li>
<li>Ma, a former English teacher, co-founded Alibaba, which started as an e-commerce marketplace and has expanded to become a global tech juggernaut.</li>
</ul>
<p>By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/saheli-roy-choudhury/" rel="author">Saheli Roy Choudhury</a></p>
<p><a class="inline_quotes" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/10/alibaba-jack-ma-succession-plan-daniel-zhang-to-take-over-as-chairman.html" data-gdsid="">Alibaba</a> on Monday said that chief executive officer Daniel Zhang will succeed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jack-ma/">Jack Ma</a> as chairman of the board, starting September 10, 2019.</p>
<p>Ma will continue as executive chairman at Alibaba over the next 12 months for a smooth transition of the chairmanship to Zhang, the company said in a statement. After that, he intends to stay on the Alibaba board of directors until the 2020 annual shareholders meeting.</p>
<p>In a letter to Alibaba&#8217;s customers and shareholders, Ma said the transition &#8220;demonstrates that Alibaba has stepped up to the next level of corporate governance from a company that relies on individuals, to one built on systems of organizational excellence and a culture of talent development.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/woWVvF6lLus" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
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<p>&#8220;Starting the process of passing the Alibaba torch to Daniel and his team is the right decision at the right time, because I know from working with them that they are ready, and I have complete confidence in our next generation of leaders,&#8221; Ma wrote. He added that he plans to continue his role as the founding partner in the Alibaba Partnership, which is a group made up of 36 senior leaders entrusted with the company&#8217;s mission, vision and values.</p>
<p>&#8220;I also want to return to education, which excites me with so much blessing because this is what I love to do,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The move to appoint Zhang as a successor to Ma was not at all surprising, Gil Luria, director of research at financial services firm D.A. Davidson &amp; Co, told CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/asia-squawk-box/">Squawk Box</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;(Ma) stepped back five years ago to become chairman,&#8221; Luria said, adding that Ma had left the stage for Zhang, Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai, Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu and others to take over. &#8220;He&#8217;s done, he&#8217;s already worked on the succession for years. It seems to be going in a fairly orderly fashion.&#8221;</p>
<p>Luria also said not to expect too many changes as a result of the leadership succession.</p>
<p>&#8220;The communication to the outside world beyond the investment community may be a little different without Jack Ma. He&#8217;s a very colorful, charismatic figure, and that aspect of communication may go away,&#8221; he said. But the strategies put in place at the tech giant, including <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/18/alibaba-hema-stores-blend-online-and-offline-retail.html">an online-to-offline new retail strategy</a>, belong to Zhang, Luria added. &#8220;It&#8217;s his company now and as chairman, (Zhang) would most likely continue those strategies.&#8221;</p>
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<form id="bx-form-775612-step-1" action="https://api.bounceexchange.com/capture/submit" method="post">
<div id="bx-group-775612-Oz51CS3" class="bx-group bx-group-default bx-group-775612-Oz51CS3 bx-group-Oz51CS3">
<div id="bx-element-775612-OC4ghRW" class="bx-row bx-row-text bx-row-text-default  bx-row-OC4ghRW bx-element-775612-OC4ghRW"></div>
<div id="bx-element-775612-pL8xJ7V" class="bx-row bx-row-image bx-row-image-default  bx-row-pL8xJ7V bx-element-775612-pL8xJ7V">Ma, a former English teacher, co-founded Alibaba in 1999 and is considered one of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/china/">China&#8217;s</a> richest men, with a net worth of <a class="inline_asset" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jack-ma/#704459ec1ee4">$36.6 billion, according to Forbes.</a> Alibaba, based out of Hangzhou, China, started as an e-commerce marketplace and expanded into other business areas, including cloud computing and digital payments through its affiliate Ant Financial. Ma stepped down as chief executive officer in 2013 to dedicate more time to philanthropy through the Jack Ma Foundation.</div>
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<p>Last week, <a class="inline_asset" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/technology/alibaba-jack-ma-retiring.html">a report by The New York Times</a> said that the billionaire was retiring on Monday from the company he helped found, and that it would&#8217;ve made him one of the first founders among a generation of prominent Chinese internet entrepreneurs to step down. On Saturday, the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, quoted a spokesman saying the Times&#8217; report was <a class="inline_asset" href="https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2163376/jack-ma-remain-alibabas-chairman-succession-plan-younger-talent">factually inaccurate, and taken out of context.</a></p>
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<div class="group-container last">
<h4 class="subtitle">Read Jack Ma&#8217;s full letter to Alibaba shareholders and customers below:</h4>
<div class="group">
<blockquote><p>Dear Alibaba customers, Aliren, and shareholders,</p>
<p>Today, as we mark the 19th anniversary of Alibaba, I am excited to share some news with you:<br />
with the approval of our board of directors, one year from today on September 10, 2019 which also falls on Alibaba&#8217;s 20th anniversary, Group CEO Daniel Zhang will succeed me as chairman of the board of Alibaba Group. While remaining as executive chairman in the next 12 months, I will work closely with Daniel to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Thereafter, I will stay on the Alibaba board of directors until our annual shareholders meeting in 2020.</p>
<p>I have put a lot of thought and preparation into this succession plan for ten years. I am delighted to announce the plan today thanks to the support of the Alibaba Partnership and our board of directors. I also want to offer special thanks to all Alibaba colleagues and your families, because your trust, support and our joint enterprise over the past 19 years have prepared us for this day with confidence and strength.</p>
<p>This transition demonstrates that Alibaba has stepped up to the next level of corporate governance from a company that relies on individuals, to one built on systems of organizational excellence and a culture of talent development.</p>
<p>When Alibaba was founded in 1999, our goal was to build a company that could make China and the world proud and one that could cross three centuries to last 102 years. However, we all knew that no one could stay with the company for 102 years. A sustainable Alibaba would have to be built on sound governance, culture-centric philosophy, and consistency in developing talent. No company can rely solely on its founders. Of all people, I should know that. Because of physical limits on one&#8217;s ability and energy, no one can shoulder the responsibilities of chairman and CEO forever.</p>
<p>We asked ourselves this question 10 years ago – how could Alibaba achieve sustainable growth after Jack Ma leaves the company? We believed the only way to solve the problem of corporate leadership succession was to develop a system of governance based on a unique culture and mechanisms for developing consistent talent and successors. For the last 10 years, we kept working on these ingredients.</p>
<p>Having been trained as a teacher, I feel extremely proud of what I have achieved. Teachers always want their students to exceed them, so the responsible thing to do for me and the company to do is to let younger, more talented people take over in leadership roles so that they inherit our mission &#8220;to make it easy to do business anywhere.&#8221; Carrying out this mission in order to help small businesses, young people and women around the world is my passion. This is not only our intent from day one but I feel blessed to have this opportunity. To realize the dream behind this mission requires participation by a lot more people than just Jack Ma and persistent effort by generations of Aliren.</p>
<p>Alibaba is amazing not because of our business or scale or accomplishments. The best thing about Alibaba is that we come together under a common mission and vision. Our partnership system, unique culture and talented team have laid a strong foundation for the legacy of our company. In fact, since I handed over the CEO&#8217;s responsibilities in 2013, the company has run smoothly for five years on the back of these institutional ingredients.</p>
<p>The partnership system we developed is a creative solution to good governance and sustainability, as it overcomes several challenges faced by companies of scale: continuous innovation, leadership succession, accountability and cultural continuity. Over the years, in iterating our management model, we have experimented with and improved on the right balance between systems and individuals. Simply relying on individuals or blindly following a system will not solve our problems. To achieve long-term sustainable growth, you need the right balance among system, people and culture. I have full confidence that our partnership system and efforts to safeguard our culture will in time win over the love and support from customers, employees and shareholders.</p>
<p>Since the founding of the company in 1999, we have been of the view that Alibaba&#8217;s future will need to depend on &#8220;droves of talent&#8221; to enable us to iterate on our management succession plans. After years of hard work, today&#8217;s Alibaba has a world-class talent pool in quality and quantity. The teacher in me feels extremely proud of our team, our leadership and our unique mission-driven culture, as well as the fact that we continue to develop exceptional business leaders and professional talent like Daniel Zhang.</p>
<p>Daniel has been with Alibaba Group for 11 years. Since he took over as CEO, he has demonstrated his superb talent, business acumen and determined leadership. Under his stewardship, Alibaba has seen consistent and sustainable growth for 13 consecutive quarters. His analytical mind is unparalleled, he holds dear our mission and vision, he embraces responsibility with passion, and he has the guts to innovate and test creative business models. Deservedly, China&#8217;s business news media has named him the No.1 CEO in 2018. For these reasons, he and his team have won the trust and support of customers, employees and shareholders. Starting the process of passing the Alibaba torch to Daniel and his team is the right decision at the right time, because I know from working with them that they are ready, and I have complete confidence in our next generation of leaders.</p>
<p>As for myself, I still have lots of dreams to pursue. Those who know me know that I do not like to sit idle. I plan on continuing my role as the founding partner in the Alibaba Partnership and contribute to the work of the partnership. I also want to return to education, which excites me with so much blessing because this is what I love to do. The world is big, and I am still young, so I want to try new things – because what if new dreams can be realized?!</p>
<p>The one thing I can promise everyone is this: Alibaba was never about Jack Ma, but Jack Ma will forever belong to Alibaba.</p>
<p>Jack Ma<br />
September 10, 2018</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify that the New York Times originally reported that Jack Ma said he would be stepping down as Alibaba chairman on Monday.</em></p>
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<div class="reporter-info"><span class="name"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/saheli-roy-choudhury/">Saheli Roy Choudhury</a></span><span class="title">Reporter, CNBC.com</span></div>
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Alibaba’s co-founder Jack Ma reveals succession plan

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<p>It&#8217;s the company behind China&#8217;s most popular search engine and it&#8217;s now venturing into AI and self-driving cars. CNBC&#8217;s Uptin Saiidi explores what&#8217;s b&#8230;</p>


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