Jack Ma, the founder of the technology conglomerate Alibaba and once the richest business leader in China, arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Director General of the Department of Immigration Jhalakram Adhikari, the business magnate landed at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on a special flight at 2:30 pm. 

As of June 2023, Ma is the fourth wealthiest person in China with a net worth of $34.5 billion and 39th richest person in the world, as per the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. Ma’s Alibaba had acquired Daraz, the e-commerce platform popular in South and East Asia, some five years back.

Very few officials knew about his visit, said a senior government official. “When such a rich man seeks to visit Nepal, there would be no reason not to welcome him,” the official said. Ma needed clearance from the civil aviation authority for his flight.

Ma was accompanied by six crew members on his flight from Bangladesh to Nepal, said CAAN Information Officer Gyanendra Bhul. 

Ma has sent separate requests to meet with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, the private secretariats of the leaders confirmed. 

Ma, whose business empire has been criticised by the Chinese government, marked at Immigration that he had arrived from China. Indeed, he was in Japan last week. 

Several international media outlets had reported that Ma had disappeared from public view between October 2020 and January 2021 after criticising China’s banks and regulators. Then he toured various countries before settling in Japan. 

A member of Nepal’s business community told the Post that Jack’s visit to Kathmandu was billed as a “business trip” but no more information was available. 

During the Covid pandemic, Jack had donated emergency supplies including masks, test kits, protective suits, ventilators and thermometers to some Asian countries.

“Go Asia!” Jack had tweeted then. “We will donate emergency supplies (1.8 million masks, 210 thousand test kits, 36 thousand protective suits, plus ventilators and thermometers to Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Delivering fast is not easy, but we'll get it done!”

The rest of his itinerary in Nepal has been kept secret, a senior security official said. “We have heard that before leaving for Pakistan on Thursday, he will be visiting Chitwan,” the official added. “But we have yet to receive confirmation from his team.”