Kuaishou Technology, following $2.8 Billion USD generated for rural entrepreneurs, launches 'Social Impact Institute'

Following the success of Kuaishou Technology's pilot programs to alleviate poverty, the 'Social Impact Institute' furthers research that will support the development of sustainable businesses for entrepreneurs hailing from low-income households

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Kuaishou Technology

Apr 16, 2019, 03:57 ET

BEIJING, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kuaishou Technology, developer of Kuaishou, one of the world's leading short video applications with 160 million daily active users, announced the launch of the Kuaishou Social Impact Institute, a new research arm in partnership with world-leading academic institutions to assess the impact of Internet technology on the alleviation of poverty, social impact research and more.

Following 16 million users who've earned an income through Kuaishou, many of whom use the platform for their livelihood, the institute is the latest milestone in Kuaishou Technology's mission to empower users to create their own sustainable e-commerce businesses, with an emphasis on impoverished households.

In fact, it was revealed today at a press conference in Beijing that Kuaishou has helped users from impoverished rural backgrounds in China generate $2.8 billion USD in revenue in 2018.

Having recognized the interest in creatively promoting local goods among users, Kuaishou Technology kickstarted a development initiative in 2018, running pilot programs that offered both platform-based e-commerce tools and on-the-ground business operations support for its users, the latter of which was established as the "Kuaishou for Social Good" initiative.

This initiative, designed to offer direct education and resources for rural citizens to being a career in social e-commerce entrepreneurship, runs multiple parallel pilot programs, a couple of which include the "Kuaishou Rural Entrepreneurship Incubation Program" and the "Kuaishou Goods For Good Program."

Empowering citizens from the most underprivileged regions in China, the "Kuaishou Rural Entrepreneurship Incubation Program" has been an ongoing pilot program that began with educating twenty participants on how to set up, establish and run business operations. Consequently in 2018, Kuaishou Technology helped these newly established rural entrepreneurs generate $1.4 million USD in collective revenue for their own social e-commerce businesses, while also lifting 500 households out of poverty.

Also seeing success with the "Kuaishou Goods For Good Program," Kuaishou Technology provided guidance and business resources to 4,000 sellers of 'sweetheart apples," among which 1,300 were under the poverty threshold, who collectively sold fifty different locally-produced products and generated $37 million USD in revenue on Kuaishou in 2018.

To power this poverty-fighting movement, Kuaishou's platform, down to its algorithms, is designed to be ethically conscious, unlike any other short video and live streaming app. Recommendations are deliberately 'inclusive.' In other words, Kuaishou offers new users an equal opportunity to feature their best content, be guaranteed a real audience, and the opportunity to turn their content into a viable social e-commerce business through the short video and live streaming application.

On the back of its early success and sparked by demand from research institutions from around the world, Kuaishou Technology's newly unveiled Social Impact Institute aims to fund and further spearhead groundbreaking research that seeks to uncover new ways that the Internet can transform impoverished communities worldwide through the means of education, entrepreneurship, and social commerce platforms.

"When a company embeds social value creation into both the company's mission and business operations, this strengthens the business' foundation, while also generating more happiness for all," said Su Hua, Founder and CEO of Kuaishou Technology. "As just business growth isn't enough for any enterprise to garner respect and acceptance from society, Kuaishou is on a mission to use our technology ethically, to both solve major societal issues and create real social value."

Participants of the Kuaishou Social Impact Institute include Oxford University, the University of Birmingham, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Renmin University of China and Tsinghua University.

About Kuaishou Technology

Founded in 2011, Kuaishou Technology is the developer of Kuaishou, one of the world's leading short video social platforms boasting more than 160 million daily active users. Lead by co-founder and CEO, Su Hua, Kuaishou Technology is a mission to increase every individual's happiness through big data and A.I. technology and fueled by the belief that everyone's lives are worth chronicling.

Through the sharing of short videos, photos and livestreams, Kuaishou is designed to shine the limelight on the often overlooked, yet diverse and down-to-earth communities of people in China. Since its launch, Kuaishou has grown to become China's largest life sharing platform with 15 million pieces of user generated content created everyday, 350 million daily likes, and boasts an archive of 9 billion original short videos.

SOURCE Kuaishou Technology