New Athlete365: In partnership with Alibaba, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has started a new version of the Athlete365 Business Accelerator program to help athletes develop their business ideas and help them become entrepreneurs after their careers.
Since its start in 2018, the program has used virtual sessions, online learning, and in-person mentoring to help athletes build a second job outside of sports. With help from the Yunus Sports Hub and hosted on the IOC’s Athlete365 website, the online course has helped more than 4,700 athletes so far. Of those, 471 went on to take part in the online workshops, and 61 were given the chance to work with a local mentor.
Alibaba is the first Worldwide Olympic Partner to support the project. Experts from Alibaba.com, which is one of the biggest business-to-business (B2B) online marketplaces in the world, will teach athletes taking part in the project all about e-commerce and how it can help their business ideas. This is Alibaba.com’s first time taking part in the Olympics as part of the Alibaba Group’s relationship.
The Business Accelerator brings the best of both worlds together: Alibaba’s entrepreneurial spirit and cutting-edge technology – and the champion’s mindset and drive for excellence that defines Olympians.
Emma TerhoIOC Athletes’ Commission Chair
Alibaba.com will give athletes money, training tools, and mentoring services
Here are the key points:
- Training Tools: Alibaba will provide athletes with resources and training tools to help them transition into new careers.
- Mentoring Services: Athletes will receive mentoring services as part of the Business Accelerator program.
- Financial Support: Alibaba.com will offer financial assistance to athletes for starting their own businesses on the platform.
- Online Bootcamps: The program includes five online bootcamps available in French, English, and Spanish.
Alibaba will help athletes change careers by giving them training tools, mentoring services, and money to start their own businesses on Alibaba.com as part of its support for the Business Accelerator program. In the first part of the program, athletes will take part in five online bootcamps that will be taught in French, English, and Spanish. These bootcamps will give them an overview of the project and a plan for how they might become entrepreneurs. Alibaba.com will also hold a lesson on the basics of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce.
Then, athletes who want to develop their business ideas can take an online course to learn more. For example, Alibaba.com offers a session on how to use artificial intelligence to start a new business and gives athletes access to an online library with many business-related resources. If 25 athletes finish the online course, they will have the chance to work with a mentor from the Yunus Sports Hub network. Alibaba.com will also give an expert session on sourcing and sales strategies and personally teach all B2B e-commerce projects.
In this part of the Business Accelerator, athletes will also have the chance to pitch their business ideas to a group of experts. Three winners will each get an advertising package with branding and other assets to help promote their business. Another 50 athletes will also get coupons worth $10,000 that they can use on Alibaba.com to buy things or pay for services. These can be Alibaba.com memberships that give them access to all of Alibaba’s AI tools, expert advice, and personalized services from customer care operations teams.
Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, says that with Alibaba.com’s help, athletes will be able to turn their creative ideas into real business possibilities.
There are more than 170,000 people in the Athlete365 community.” The athletes have a great chance of becoming wealthy business owners and innovators. “But we also know how hard it is for them to start a new business from scratch, and we think that having access to technology is the key,” Terho said.
Alibaba has promised to help the IOC bring the Olympics into the digital age since it became a Worldwide Olympic Partner in 2017. It is also helping to put Olympic Agenda 2020+5 into action with its cutting-edge cloud and e-commerce technologies.
