What can Sri Lankans learn from Jack Ma the richest man in China?

Inspirational stories are important for many reasons. There are lessons to be drawn, emotions are aroused, the hero within feels the urge to come out and stories of rags to riches shows all of us that the impossible is possible. We look at Jack Ma the founder and Chairman of Alibaba who has been in the news of late and try to pick out some tips.

• You don’t have to be born rich Jack Ma was born on 15 October 1964 into a poor rural home in Hangzhou. Parents were traditional musicians-storytellers
• You don’t have to be first in class too! Jack Ma in fact failed his college entrance twice; he had been rejected from jobs too. He had no money and no connections. To get ahead he knew he needed to educate himself and he was third time successful and graduated in 1988. He learnt English while giving tours to foreigners free. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English
• You must love what you do Jack Ma began work as an English teacher. He was a natural teacher. His students loved him and he loved his job.   
• You curiosity will always get the best of you Jack Ma knew nothing of computers but he was curious. He was interested in the internet. His first trip to the US was in 1995 and was sent to recover a payment. In fact his first online search word was ‘beer’ and surprised to see there were no Chinese beer in the search results. This saw the birth of the idea to start an internet company for CnYou must try even if you fail – it’s better than not trying at all

When KFC came to China, 24 applied for the job including himself. Except him the 23 were taken! Even the police rejected him! Attempts at two ventures failed but with a group of friends agreeing to invest on his vision for an online marketplace to enable exporters to post product listings that customers could buy directly saw the birth of ‘Alibaba’. An idea generated without any fanfare. By October 1999 Alibaba had raised $ 5 million from Goldman Sachs and $ 20 m from SoftBank, a Japanese Telecom company. Make every opportunity an open door – never think a chance is too small or beneath you. Seize the chance and put your whole spirit into it.

• Pass down your vision Jack Ma wanted to maintain a sense of fun. He was always doing the unexpected and expecting the unexpected. His sense of fun in turn was passed down to the rest of the employees. Unify team to a common goal. Keep the momentum going even if 30% may do so unwillingly when you keep pressing your vision and goal they will automatically fall in line. Always hire people with better technical skills then you. Find the right people, not necessarily the best or most skilled people 
• You set your value Jack Ma is worth an estimated $ 25 billion. He has 7.8% stake in Alibaba and 50% stake in payment processing service Alipay. In 2005, Yahoo invested $ 1 billion in Alibaba in exchange for 40% stake in the company. Its $ 150-billion IPO was the largest offering for a US-listed company in the history of the New York Stock Exchange and made Jack Ma the richest man in China.

Today, Alibaba is worth more than Facebook, and processes goods more than eBay and Amazon combined

• You can be the best of the best Jack Ma is the richest man in China with an estimated worth of $ 25 billion. China has 1.3 billion people! 
• You must never forget your past Jack Ma may have become rich but he has never forgotten his past. His hobbies continue to be reading, writing kung fu fiction, playing poker, meditating and practicing tai chi.
• Never forget to give something back Jack Ma sits on the global board of The Nature Conservancy and has been instrumental in funding a 27,000 acre nature reserve in China.

Quoting Jack Ma

“Today, what we got is not money. What we got is the trust from the people”

“You need the right people with you, not the best people”

“Never ever compete on prices; instead compete on services and innovation.”

“Instead of learning from other people’s success, learn from their mistakes. Most of the people who fail share common reasons (to fail) whereas success can be attributed to various different kinds of reasons”

“Help young people. Help small guys because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.”

“You’ve got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision.”

“Today, making money is very simple; but making sustainable money while being responsible to the society and improving the world is very difficult.”

“If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat ten of them.”

“A leader should have higher grit and tenacity, and be able to endure what the employees can’t.”

“You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.”

“Intelligent people need a fool to lead them. When the team’s all a bunch of scientists, it is best to have a peasant lead the way. His way of thinking is different. It’s easier to win if you have people seeing things from different perspectives.”

“When we have money, we start making mistakes.”

“Opportunity lies in the place where the complaints are.”

Jack Ma has certainly affected the entire economy and internet industry in China. Ma is the symbol of the Chinese entrepreneurial spirit whose story is an inspiration to all. It’s a story of not giving up whatever the odds because giving up is the greatest failure.

Article contributed by Shenali Waduge