Daraz and Alibaba Cloud forges partnership to drive digitalisation in Pakistan – The companies aim to build up local technology ecosystem together

Daraz, South Asia’s leading eCommerce platform and Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, have forged a partnership to power Pakistan’s digitalisation. The parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to appoint Daraz as a partner to offer Alibaba cloud computing services in Pakistan. The signing of the MOU is witnessed by Her Excellency Ms Rukhsana Afzaal, High Commissioner for Pakistan in the presence of Mr Bjarke Mikkelsen CEO and Founder of Daraz and Mr. Derek Wang, General Manager of South Asia and Singapore, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. This move is in line with the Pakistan government’s ‘Digital Pakistan Vision’ to bolster the IT industry by building a digital ecosystem.

Founded in 2015, Daraz Pakistan is one of the most well-known brands in Pakistan. Daraz has more than 40 million active monthly users and over 100,000 active sellers. Daraz University, Daraz’s online learning centre, offers personalised and localised courses covering all areas of the e-commerce ecosystem. It gives small and medium enterprises the skills to unlock their business online. Together with Alibaba Cloud’s leading cloud computing capabilities, such as networking, and artificial intelligence, both parties will support Pakistan’s digital economy with higher adoption of cloud services.

“We are glad to partner with Daraz to bring digitalization opportunities to Pakistan, and by offering our proven cloud computing services, we are confident to support Daraz in building up Pakistan’s digital momentum to benefit the wider ecosystem,” said Dr Derek Wang, General Manager for South Asia and Singapore, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

“Daraz’s purpose is to uplift the communities where we operate, and through digitalisation, we can play a significant role in growing the digital economy in Pakistan. We look forward to increasing cloud adoption in the public and private sectors in Pakistan and making Alibaba Cloud accessible to SMEs and B2B sector in Pakistan,” said Mr Bjarke Mikkelsen, Daraz Chief Executive Officer.