He was not good at academics but proved world, that thinking big is more essential. He is the Founder of the world’s largest E-commerce website Ali Baba. China’s successful entrepreneur and billionaire. He is Jack Ma.
Jack was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China in 1964. From his starting life, he was keen to learn English but not able to did it. Later he got an idea to learn English quickly. Every Morning whether it was sunny or rainy, he rode his bicycle to an International hotel and waited for tourists there. He exchanged his services as a tour guide just to learn English.
The Journey of Jack Ma towards success started when he met with an Australian Family. He soon becomes friends with them. Later they invited him to Australia where he was impressed by the luxurious lifestyle of people there in comparison with China.
Jack Ma was academically weak. He was so weak in math that he failed the standardized university entrance test and end up studying in a low standard university called Teacher’s College. After his bachelor’s he started his first job as an English teacher.
Idea of Internet Business
In 1995, he made a tour to Seattle, which proved a turning point in his life. He saw the Internet first time there. Internet’s role in upcoming years was captured by Jack’s brain and he start thinking about it. Later his mind was surrounded by different ideas related to internetwork.
In the same year, he started his first venture and launched a company in the name of China yellow pages. He spent his all savings in registering the company. It was a very small company with an old computer in the middle of a small room.
The biggest problem for Jack Ma was that he started an Internet company in his hometown Hangzhou, where there is no existence of the Internet. An ordinary person might change his idea in such circumstances but he didn’t.
Jack Ma told the potential of the Internet to his friends and convince some of them. He started as a website designer and helps to create websites using his English skills and friends in Seattle. Jack made $2400 at that time. He once said “I was treated like a con man for three years,” this is how Jack Ma remembers his early days.
Foundation of Ali Baba Group
Jack Ma was from starting is a big thinker. He thinks big and takes courage’s action that other people were reluctant to take. In 1999, he founded Ali Baba Group as a business-to-business e-commerce platform. During starting days, they tried to sell and buy things on Ali Baba himself as there was no customer. Later a person tries to sell things and all things were purchased by Jack Ma. He said that he wants to persuade people that it actually works. Soon the people started believing in Ali baba’s system and their customer base started growing.
Ali Baba Group Expansion Journey
To achieve substantial growth Ali Baba Group needs financing, Jack Ma, therefore, meet an investor of Palo Alto, Silicon Valley but failed to convince him. Jack Ma wasn’t able to give a clear plan. His motto was “If you plan you lose. If you don’t plan you win.” After facing little struggles, Jack Ma was finally able to convince an employee of Goldman Sachs to invest $5 Million Dollars in his company.
After his outstanding success as an Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma in 2014 declared “I’m not good at technology.” He proved that as an Entrepreneur you have to think big it doesn’t matter whether you have the technical knowledge or not.
Other Services by Ali Baba Group
In 2003, Ali Baba Group was not in profitable condition and there were also difficulties in raising the funds from venture capitalists. Jack Ma shows his willingness to open a retail website Taobao. He faced criticism both from internal and external stakeholders. Despite all the odds he established the world’s largest Chinese business-to-consumer website.
Later in 2004, Jack Ma introduced the world’s largest internet Payment service Ali Pay.
In 2007, he managed to beat his biggest competitor eBay. He made him winds up his operations in China. eBay has a strong financial muscle than Jack Ma’s Ali Baba Group but they failed to understand Chinese markets. Later, the Group became dominant in China.
Jack Ma is always open to new ideas. He said in 2004, “all entrepreneurs know that their day is about dealing with difficulty and failure rather than defined by ‘Success’. My most difficult time hasn’t come yet, but it surely will. Nearly a decade of entrepreneurial experience tells me these difficult times can’t be evaded or shouldered by others, the entrepreneur must be able to face failure and never give up.”
Retirement of Jack Ma
Jack Ma was in a view to retire early and hand over the business to youth. He believes that young generations are better at making progress and doing innovations. In September 2018, he announced that he would retire from Ali Baba and pursue educational work, philanthropy, and environmental causes. In the same year, Daniel Zhang becomes the executive chairman of Ali Baba Group.
Jack Ma’s Net Worth in 2021
Now Jack Ma is the 3rd Richest man in China with about $51.5 Billion Dollars of Net worth.