Alibaba China’s e-commerce giant has been an advocate of gender diversity and its Founder Jack Ma has declared a large part of their success has been down to a policy of hiring women in senior leadership positions.
The e-commerce giant has put many more well established western Multi-national companies to shame when it comes to diversity and inclusion of women in executive roles. A third of Alibaba’s founding partners are female, and women account for nine of the 30 partners who control management decisions outperforming many of the Silicon Valley giants.
We take a closer look at one of Alibaba’s female founders Lucy Peng current CEO of Lazada and who also serves as the executive chair at Ant Financial, her mission is clear; to expand Alibaba’s footprint and growth in the fast-growing South-East Asia Region.
Background:
Did you know She’s one of Alibaba’s founders, who set up the US$500 billion online shopping giant alongside Jack Ma back in 1999. Six of Alibaba’s 18 co-founders are female.
She is a great multi-tasker. In addition to being the new CEO of Singapore-based Lazada, Peng is still executive chair at Alibaba spin-off Ant Financial back in China. That’s the payments business, best known for Alipay, which is said to be weighing up an IPO that’d value it at over US$100 billion. She’s also Lazada’s chairwoman.
She has strong leadership experience. Back in 2010, she was appointed CEO of Alipay, a job she had for six years before the fast-moving fintech firm, now known as Ant Financial, handed the CEO mantle to Eric Jing. In her role as Alipay boss, she turned the wallet app into a financial services juggernaut and expanded it outside China.
She’s a former teacher– just like Jack Ma. Peng taught at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics for five years in the 1990s after graduating with a degree in business administration from a different college in Alibaba’s hometown. Prior to that, she was chief people officer at Alibaba for more than a decade.
As Alibaba continues its rapid global expansion female executive leaders such as Lucy Peng will be integral to its success.
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half the sky (HTS) is a career platform for women connecting you to career opportunities at companies that care. Providing you with information, tips and strategies to navigate the rapidly changing workplace.
Sign up to get career tips and job alerts directly to your inbox! Join us to shape the future of women at work together!
