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HK$1b Alibaba fund to help young Hong Kong entrepreneurs won't exclude occupiers: Jack Ma

Even those who ‘lack discipline’ will be included, insists Alibaba chief

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Jack Ma Yun says they hope to create life-changing opportunities for young people. Photo: AFP

Alibaba Group executive chairman Jack Ma Yun said his HK$1 billion fund to support young Hong Kong entrepreneurs would not exclude those who took part in the Occupy Central movement, but he thinks they need "some discipline".

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The head of the e-commerce giant also said his legal team would be transparent in its handling of possible class-action lawsuits in the United States over the alleged sale of fake goods on the firm's Taobao online shopping platform.

In a talk before some 6,900 in the city last night, Ma advised the crowd of mostly young people of university and high school age to learn from their failures and hardships, just as he was learning from his present travails.

Ma was asked if his fund would be open to those who had taken part in the mass sit-in for universal suffrage, which paralysed some of the city's major roads for 79 days.

"Why not? This is for Hong Kong's young people," Ma said.

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Ma announced the HK$1 billion foundation on Sunday, a day before yesterday's address organised by the think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, which was set up by former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa. Ma is an adviser to the think tank.

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