58 Group joins poverty fight in Guizhou
Online marketplace 58 Group will provide tailored services to Zheng’an county, Guizhou province, with the aim of alleviating poverty through the integration of local industry and e-commerce.
Zheng’an signed the agreement with 58 Group for poverty alleviation at the 2018 China International Big Data Expo.
Ma Lan, Party secretary and public service director of 58 Group, said the group plans to establish Zheng’an as an example of a poverty alleviation county by providing online marketing services and offline vocational training for local residents by cooperating with the local government.
Zheng’an boasts a favorable environment for planting tea, and is known for its white tea. It is also the biggest guitar producer in western China, selling millions of instruments overseas each year.
“After preliminary investigation into local industries, we will focus on developing the Zheng’an brand by creating more online sales of white tea and guitars,” Ma said.
“Better cloud services are also needed to cover all the 19 townships in Zheng’an and 58 Tongcheng will be promoted to the local people.” Ma said. Public service platform, 58 Tongcheng, already serves thousands of towns in China, providing information such as job adverts, government notices and public service messages for rural residents.
In addition to online services, free offline vocational training will be offered. While more than 200,000 migrant laborers left the area in 2017, there are still 380,000 longterm permanent residents, including many women and people with disabilities who lack work skills, said Jiang Ge, director of the Zheng’an Investment Promotion Bureau.
Aimed at creating more job opportunities for them, Ma said “58 Group will organize training classes for local women focusing on domestic services, to help them meet the large demand for housekeepers in surrounding cities.In addition, public service centers will offer skills training for those with disabilities to help them find jobs.