Startup stories in association with oh look taught in. The greatest empires are sometimes born out of smallest of ideas. Today we’ll talk about the story of the man who has impacted the entire economy and the internet industry of China almost single handedly his life is nothing less than the story of Robert, the Bruce and the spider that we were taught in our kindergartens. This is the story of the man who is today one of the most valued persons in the world.
Jack Ma.Born to a traditional musician storyteller parents on October 15 nineteen sixty-four. Jack Ma was the second child in the family. Jack and his 2 siblings, an elder brother and a younger sister had a modest upbringing. During their childhood, communism was at its peak in the country and the residents had little or no contact with the western world. However, his zeal to enhance his aptitude and acquire new skills was evident from childhood. From the year nineteen seventy-two, tourism boomed in the city and the spirited Jack made the most of the opportunity.
He worked as a tourist guide in its for lessons in English. Apparently he also befriended one of the tourist and the two continued correspondents furloughed. His pen pal named him Jack as he found Maas original name a little too difficult to pronounce. But his education was not all smooth sailing. Jack failed in his primary school examinations two times before he got it right. Continuing to middle school. He failed graduating exams three times before going through. Well, this was not the end of his in the education system.
After high school when applying for universities he flopped the entrance exams thrice. He wanted to join Harvard University but he got rejected all of 10 times. Eventually in his third attempt he joined normal university where he graduated with a bachelor in English.
After graduating from college he applied to 30 different jobs and was subsequently rejected by all of them. He even applied to a police officer. But they didn’t even give him the time of the day. Rejecting him with three simple words saying that you are no good. Frustrated with the lack of solid employment opportunities after graduating in the early nineteen nineties. Jack relied on his English to teach at the local university he had attended a few years ago.
Later he started a translation service business. Upon his first visit to the United States in the 1995 as a translator. Jack got in introduced to the internet. He was totally shocked after he looked up beer from various countries and learnt that there was none from China on the world wide web which is a country of about a billion people. Jack immediately saw the potential business opportunities of the internet and how it could facilitate the way small and medium Chinese enterprises could do business with the rest of the world. Then he and his friends decided to launch a website about China and Chinese products online known as China pay that listed Chinese businesses and their products.Within the same day they began to receive emails from people around the world requesting them to partner with their company. That experience taught Jack about the incredible power of connectivity. Especially how the internet can greatly impact the global trade essentially for small medium enterprises.
However due to lack of funding. Jack had to shut down this business. He later took up a government job for a short period at the ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation in the latter half of nineteen nineties.There he also built important connections with influential people. Gatford later impact Jack’s life and business venture. One of whom was the founding member of Yahoo Jerry Yang. Later in nineteen ninety-nine after leaving the government job. Jack took a second bite at the internet based business ventures by grouping 18 people, including himself and his wife and sold them a dream to found Alibaba with a goal of facilitating international trade for small and medium ventures based in China.
In the early stages of Alibaba. Jack tried to raise funds from the Silicon Valley which is a tech hub in the United States. But he was met with denials and his business model was criticised to be unprofitable and unsustainable by many during that time. Not the one to get bowed down easily. Jack continued his efforts to raise funds. And eventually Jack was successful in getting gold man sacks and soft bank to invest five million and twenty million dollars in Alibaba respected lead.
Later as the. com boom period came to an end in the year 2 thousand. Alibaba faced serious challenges due to its aggressive expansion into international markets. Jackma successfully reorganised companies operations including closing many international branches and focusing on strengthening Alibaba’s position in the Chinese market. There after Jack expanded the services of Alibaba and reengaged its international expansion strategy. After Jack and Alibaba reorganised a operations and made their mark by driving eBay out of China after just few years in business. Jack succeeded in getting Yahoo to invest a sizable one billion dollars for a forty percent stake in Alibaba in two thousand five.
Later in 2040 in what turned out to be the largest IPO in the world till date. Jack and his team successfully raised in excess of $25 billion dollars for Alibaba by listing it in the New York stock exchange in the United that made Alibaba a 15 years old E commerce company that has its origins outside of the US as one of the world’s largest companies as measured by its market capitalization that was approximately $200 billion dollars well even after achieving such a humongous success Jack feels that there is still a long way to go ahead Jack and his team are turning Alibaba holding group into a massive conglomerate by acquiring many smaller from technology related to logistics and beyond.
Well, Jack Mai is one of the world’s greatest living examples of entrepreneurship today. Once a poor lad who survived by guiding tourists. Jack left no stone hunter to rise above his humble condition and achieve success. Jack Mai is the kind of an exceptional and talented leaders who redefine the path of success. At the moment Alibaba Group is worth over 200 billion dollars at a fast on its way to dominate the international e-commerce market. While Jackma and Alibaba are yet to witness many more laurels in the future. We at startup stories wish Jackma all the very best and hope he keeps inspiring many more generations to come.Thank you so much everyone for suggesting us to do a video on the man himself Jack Ma. We hope you liked it. Let us know whose story do you want to see next in the comment section below and we’ll have it uploaded on this channel very soon. For more suggestions and feedback. Please write to us at info at startup stories TV. com. Till then stay motivated.
