Courtesy: Jack Ma, co-founder and executive chair of the Alibaba Group, arrives for the "Tech For Good" meetup at Hotel Marigny in Paris on May 15, 2019, held to discuss good conduct for technology giants. - French President and New Zealand's premier will host other world leaders and leading tech chiefs to launch an ambitious new initiative known as the "Christchurch call" aimed at curbing extremism online. The political meeting will run in parallel to an initiative launched by the French President called "Tech for Good" which will bring together 80 tech chiefs in Paris to find a way for new technologies to work for the common good. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP) (Photo credit should read BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images)
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder Jack Ma has joined Twitter.
In his first tweet, Ma posted photos of a China Eastern Airlines plane with boxes of coronavirus test kits and face masks slated to be shipped and donated to the U.S. from Shanghai.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>The first shipment of masks and coronavirus test kits to the US is taking off from Shanghai. All the best to our friends in America. 🙏 <a href=”https://t.co/LTn26gvlOl”>pic.twitter.com/LTn26gvlOl</a></p>— Jack Ma (@JackMa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/JackMa/status/1239388330405449728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 16, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
“All the best to our friends in America,” he wrote in the tweet, which garnered more than 3,500 retweets and 20,000 likes in the first hour after posting. He describes himself as a “teacher, philanthropist, entrepreneur” in his newly created profile, which topped 122,000 followers in less than a day.
In a statement issued on Monday, Jack Ma also said he will issue out a total of 1.1 million testing kits, 6 million masks and 60,000 medical use protective suits and face shields that will be distributed among the 54 African nations.
According to the Alibaba co-founder, each African country will receive 20,000 testing kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields.
The equipment will be shipped to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
“Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia has agreed to take the lead in managing the logistics and distribution of these supplies to other African countries. I want to express a big ‘Thank You’ to the Ethiopian government and Prime Minister Abiy,” said Jack Ma.
The Chinese billionaire further says that the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation will immediately start working with medical institutions in Africa to provide online training material for COVID-19 clinical treatment.
Africa can be one step ahead of the coronavirus. To each of the 54 African countries, we will donate 20,000 test kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields. Thank you @PMEthiopia @AbiyAhmedAli for your support. pic.twitter.com/6oKptVCjNx
— Jack Ma (@JackMa) March 16, 2020
About Author
