IOC launches new edition of Athlete365 Business Accelerator programme with support from Alibaba.com
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in collaboration with Worldwide Olympic Partner Alibaba, has launched a new edition of the Athlete365 Business Accelerator programme to help athletes develop their business ideas and to support their post-career entrepreneurship.
The initiative, which was first launched in 2018, offers a combination of virtual sessions, online learning and in-person mentoring to help athletes build a second career away from the sporting field. Delivered with support from the Yunus Sports Hub and hosted on the IOC’s Athlete365 platform, more than 4,700 athletes have so far benefited from the online course, with 471 then going on to participate in the online workshops and 61 being offered the chance to work with a local mentor.
Alibaba becomes the first Worldwide Olympic Partner to support the initiative, with experts from Alibaba.com – one of the world's leading business-to-business (B2B) online marketplaces – set to offer participating athletes a unique opportunity to learn about e-commerce and how it can help their entrepreneurial ideas. This marks the first involvement for Alibaba.com as part of the Alibaba Group’s Olympic partnership.
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.
Alibaba.com to provide athletes with educational tools, mentoring services and funding
As part of its support for the Business Accelerator programme, Alibaba will assist athletes in their career transitions with educational tools, mentoring services and funding to start their own businesses on Alibaba.com. In the first stage of the programme, athletes will participate in five online bootcamps – delivered in French, English and Spanish – providing an overview of the initiative and an outline of their potential entrepreneurial journey. Alibaba.com will also deliver a session on B2B e-commerce fundamentals.
Athletes interested in developing their business ideas can then participate in an online course to expand their knowledge further, with Alibaba.com offering a session on the use of artificial intelligence in creating a new business and giving athletes access to an online library featuring an array of entrepreneurial resources. Following completion of the online course, 25 athletes will be offered the chance to work with a mentor from the Yunus Sports Hub network, while Alibaba.com will also deliver an expert session on sourcing and sales strategies as well as directly mentoring all B2B e-commerce-related projects.
Athletes participating in this phase of the Business Accelerator will also have the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts, with three winners being chosen to receive a promotional package, including branding and promotional assets. A further 50 athletes will also receive USD 10,000 worth of coupons for orders or paid services on Alibaba.com, including Alibaba.com membership, access to the full suite of AI tools, expert advice and dedicated services by customer care operations teams.
Alibaba.com’s support will enable athletes to transform their creative ideas into genuine business opportunities, according to Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission.
“We have over 170,000 members in the Athlete365 community. The athletes have high potential to become successful innovators and entrepreneurs. But we are also conscious about the challenges for them to start a new business from scratch, and we believe that access to technology is the key,” said Terho.
Since becoming a Worldwide Olympic Partner in 2017, Alibaba has committed to helping the IOC transform the Olympic Games for the digital era and is supporting the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020+5 through its innovative cloud and e-commerce technologies.