Jack Ma

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ma.

Jack Ma (born Ma Yun, Chinese: 马云; [mà y̌n]; born 15 October 1964)[3] is a Chinese business
magnate, investor, politician and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and executive chair
of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. As of June 2019, he is one
of China's richest men with a net worth of $35.6 billion, as well as one of the wealthiest people
in the world.[1] Ma is a strong proponent of an open and market-driven economy.[4]
A prominent business figure, Ma is seen as a global ambassador for Chinese business and as
such is frequently listed as one of the world's most powerful people by Forbes.[5][6] He also
serves as a role model for startup businesses.[7] In 2017, he was ranked second in the annual
"World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list by Fortune.[8] On 10 September 2018, he announced that he
will retire from Alibaba and pursue educational work,[9][10][11] effective in one year, with Daniel
Zhang succeeding him as executive chairman.[12]
Early life and education[edit]
Ma was born on 10 September 1964 in the Chinese calendar, 15 October Gregorian calendar,
in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. He began studying English at a young age by conversing with
English-speakers at Hangzhou international hotel. He would ride 70 miles on his bicycle to give
tourists tours of the area to practice his English for nine years. He became pen pals with one of
those foreigners, who nicknamed him "Jack" because he found it hard to pronounce his Chinese
name.[13]
Later in his youth, Ma struggled attending college. The Chinese entrance exams are held only
once a year and Ma took four years to pass. Ma attended Hangzhou Teacher's Institute
(currently known as Hangzhou Normal University) and graduated in 1988 with a B.A. in
English.[14][15] While at school, Ma was head of the student council.[16] After graduation, he
became a lecturer in English and International Trade at Hangzhou Dianzi University.
Business career[edit]
Jack Ma on the future of online trade and globalization at the World Economic Forum 2017
Ma applied for 30 different jobs and got rejected by all. "I went for a job with the police; they
said, 'you're no good'", Ma told interviewer Charlie Rose. "I even went to KFC when it came to
my city. Twenty-four people went for the job. Twenty-three were accepted. I was the only guy
...".[17] In addition to this, he applied ten times to Harvard Business School (HBS) and got
rejected.[18]
In 1994, Ma heard about the Internet. In early 1995, he went to the US with his friends, who
helped introduce him to the Internet. Although he found information related to beer from many
countries, he was surprised to find none from China. He also tried to search for general
information about China and again was surprised to find none. So he and his friend created an
"ugly" website related to China.[19] He launched the website at 9:40 AM, and by 12:30 PM he
had received emails from some Chinese investors wishing to know about him. This was when
Ma realized that the Internet had something great to offer. In April 1995, Ma, his wife Cathy and
a friend raised US$20,000 and started their first company. Their company was dedicated to
creating websites for companies and he named it "China Pages".[20] Within three years, the
company had made 5,000,000 Chinese Yuan which at the time was equivalent to US$800,000.
Ma began building websites for Chinese companies with the help of friends in the US. He said
that "The day we got connected to the Web, I invited friends and TV people over to my house",
and on a very slow dial-up connection, "we waited three and a half hours and got half a page",
he recalled. "We drank, watched TV and played cards, waiting. But I was so proud. I proved the
Internet existed".[21] At a conference in 2010, Ma revealed that he has never actually written a
line of code nor made one sale to a customer. He acquired a computer for the first time at the
age of 33.[22]
From 1998 to 1999, Ma headed an information technology company established by the China
International Electronic Commerce Center, a department of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation. In 1999, he quit and returned to Hangzhou with his team to found
Alibaba, a China-based business-to-business marketplace site in his apartment with a group of
18 friends.[23] He started a new round of venture development with 500,000 yuan.

Jack Ma at 2007 China Trust Global Leaders Forum

In October 1999 and January 2000, Alibaba twice won a total of a $25 million foreign venture
capital investment. The program was expected to improve the domestic e-commerce market
and perfect an e-commerce platform for Chinese enterprises, especially small and medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs), to address World Trade Organization (WTO) challenges. Ma wanted
to improve the global e-commerce system and from 2003 he founded Taobao
Marketplace, Alipay, Ali Mama and Lynx. After the rapid rise of Taobao, eBay offered to
purchase the company. However, Ma rejected their offer, instead garnering support
from Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang with a $1 billion investment.
In September 2014 it was reported Alibaba was raising over $25 billion in an initial public
offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.[24] Alibaba became one of the most valuable
technology companies in the world after raising the full $25 billion, the largest initial public
offering in US financial history. Ma served as executive chairman of Alibaba Group, which is a
holding company with nine major subsidiaries: Alibaba.com, Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, eTao,
Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress.com and Alipay. In November
2012, Alibaba's online transaction volume exceeded one trillion yuan. As of 2016, Ma is the
owner of Château de Sours in Bordeaux, Chateau Guerry in Côtes de Bourg and Château
Perenne in Blaye, Côtes de Bordeaux.[25]
On 9 January 2017, Ma met with United States President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower,
to discuss a potential 1 million job openings in the following five years through Alibaba's interest
in the country.[26] On 8 September 2017, to celebrate Alibaba's 18th year of establishment, Ma
appeared on stage and gave a Michael Jackson inspired performance. He performed part of
"Can You Feel The Love Tonight" at the 2009 alibaba birthday event while dressed as a heavy
metal lead singer.[27] In the same month, Ma also partnered with Sir Li Ka-shing in a joint
venture to offer a digital wallet service in Hong Kong.[28]
Ma announced on 10 September 2018 that he will step down as executive chairman of Alibaba
Group Holding in the coming year.[29] Ma denied reports that he was forced to step aside by the
Chinese government.[30]

What Are the Basic Concepts & Characteristics of Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurs are a different breed of businessperson. Where a typical business executive

develops a careful plan and conducts market research before launching a new initiative, the
entrepreneur is more likely to act first and plan later. Where a typical business founder has a
clearly defined goal, the entrepreneur looks at the available means and resources, and then
tinkers with them until a product develops. These differences spring from the characteristics and
thinking patterns of the entrepreneurial mindset.
Creativity and Effectual Thinking
Conceiving and developing a new business is an inherently creative act. Entrepreneurs have
been found to embody a distinctive thought process, called effectual thinking, that highlights
creativity. Unlike the more familiar causal thinking, which starts with a defined goal and plans to
reach that goal step-by-step, the entrepreneur who thinks effectually starts from what’s available
in the present. This is similar to the novelist who starts with an idea or a character and lets the
novel develop out of the writing process, rather than outlining the plot before writing. It’s like the
Iron Chef who creates a delicious meal from the ingredients at hand, rather than the traditional
chef who begins with a planned meal and must assemble the ingredients beforehand. Simply
put, entrepreneurs don’t follow recipes.
Outlook for Action
Entrepreneurs have a tendency toward action, and they may even skip some steps, such as
writing a business plan, which traditional business teachings consider essential to starting a
business. Rather than conduct market research, for example, the entrepreneur is likely to take
the prototype of a new idea and immediately offer a few dozen copies to customers in a limited
market, such as at a small trade show. The response of the customers and their feedback on
the prototypes might be all the market research the entrepreneur needs to decide whether or
not to further develop the idea, or to put it on hold and move on to a new concept for the next
business venture.
Flexibility
Working without a fixed plan requires flexibility, and entrepreneurs are more than willing to make
needed adjustments to their ideas and prototypes, as they develop their business concept. This
flexibility is also an asset during times of economic uncertainty and unstable markets. A
business founder that has a more traditional mindset might not be able to shift focus in time to
adjust to the changing circumstances in which many businesses operate.
Risk Tolerance
Starting a new business venture is risky, and entrepreneurs are comfortable with that. Some
even seek out risky opportunities and strategies because they recognize that overcoming the
greatest risk also produces the greatest gains. However, entrepreneurs do take steps to
manage their risk, such as determining how much loss they are willing to accept, and then
monitoring their development process to stay within this acceptable boundary.
Concepts of Entrepreneurship
With characteristics such as creativity, effectual thinking, risk tolerance and flexibility,
entrepreneurs appear as a group of freewheeling mavericks. Indeed, many of them are.
However, entrepreneurs need to ground their innovative activities in basic, real-world principles
of conducting a successful business. Two of the most important concepts are profit and
customer focus. Profit is the difference between revenue taken in and expenses paid out.
Without profit, there is no revenue to invest in future growth of the business, and in instances
where there is negative profit, there is no money to keep the business going. Customer focus is
essential because it drives profit. A business needs customers to buy its products and services.
An entrepreneur can develop the most brilliant and innovative business concept imaginable, but
without willing customers to buy the product and therefore generate a profit to keep the
business going, the idea will remain only a prototype left sitting on the entrepreneur’s
workbench.

10 COMPETENCIES FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS:

1. Integrity - the entrepreneur has a clear sense of values and beliefs that underpin the
creativeand business decisions that they make; and that influence the actions they take,
particularly whenin difficult or challenging circumstances
2. Conceptual Thinking - the entrepreneur is prepared to use fresh approaches; comes up
withcrazy ideas that may just work, leading to radical change or significant improvements; and
takestime to listen to new ideas without pre-judgement
3. Risk taking - the entrepreneur understands that risk taking means trying something new,
and possibly better, in the sense of stretching beyond what has been done in the past; and that
theconstant challenge is to learn how to assess choices responsibly, weighing the possible
outcomesagainst his/her values and responsibilities
4. Networking - the entrepreneur understands that networking is a key business activity
whichcan provide access to information, expertise, collaboration and sales; and that careful
planningand preparation helps achieve desired results
5. Strategic Thinking - the entrepreneur understands and values the planning process,
thinkingand planning over a significant timescale; recognises external trends and opportunities;
and isable to think through any complex implications for the business
6. Commercial Aptitude - theentrepreneur keeps up to date with developments in the sector;
seeks out best practice; andidentifies and seizes opportunities that are not obvious to others
7. Decisiveness - the entrepreneur resolves issues as they arise; does not get bogged down
inanalysis during decision making; and responds flexibly to deal with changing priorities
8. Optimism - the entrepreneur persists in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks;
operatesfrom hope of success rather than from fear of failure; and sees setbacks as due
to manageablecircumstance rather than a personal flaw
9. Customer Sensitivity - the entrepreneur builds trust and long term relationships
withcustomers; generates an expectation of high level of customer service; and regularly
exceedscustomer expectation
10. People Focus - the entrepreneur creates common purpose with colleagues through
sharedvision and values; walks the talk; sees and values the best in others; builds the total
capability of the immediate and wider team; and always considers the principles of
inclusiveness in planningand dealing with others