Alibaba focuses on SMEs, rural China

Many Chinese companies that have listed abroad have faced a common concern - namely, how to spend the money earned from their IPOs. With the clamor of Alibaba's US listing subsiding, how will the Chinese e-commerce giant confront the same challenge?

As if in response to this very question, Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma Yun has said that the next decade will see Alibaba construct an ecosystem that integrates e-commerce, finance, big data and cloud computing. So far, only 20 percent of this system has been completed, according to Ma.

Under preliminary blueprints laid out by Ma, Alibaba's next major goals are extending credit services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and rural businesses. The SMEs in question won't be based solely in China - Alibaba's stated ambition is to provide a platform that will help grow 10,000 SMEs around the world, creating millions of jobs in the process. Here in China though, if Alibaba's influence can spread to rural areas, the company's products and services could offer an important catalyst to economic activity and income growth.