The magic words of Alibaba’s Jack Ma

In less than a decade, Jack Ma saw his company become one of the world’s largest online trading platform that processes transactions of over 200 million customers and 12 million businesses.

 

Ma was earning a meager $12 a month as an English teacher at a local university in China before founding Alibaba in 1999. 

 

The businessman, now 51 years old, has since become China’s second wealthiest man and ranked 33rd among the world’s billionaires, according to Forbes. 

 

"I never thought that I will be able to stand here, talking about my dream,” Ma said during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Manila on Wednesday. 

 

The treasure

 

Despite his little knowledge about computers and the Internet Ma, convinced 17 friends to invest in Alibaba.

 

"Today, the only thing I know about the computer is receive and send emails, browse and watch video,” he said, drawing laughter from other businessmen.

 

A teacher by education, Ma was about to compete with people educated in the finest universities in the West.

 

"We were never scared because we worked as a team, we had the dream and we believed that if we worked in 15 years, we would make it,” he said. 

 

It was indeed the case for Alibaba – successfully taking advantage of the lack in infrastructure that had kept commerce in the backwaters of China. 

 

"Because we do not have this and that, when Internet came, we made the infrastructure really work and sophisticated,” Ma said.

 

 

Open sesame online

 

More than 200 million people now actively shop through Alibaba, which lists around 1 billion products from 12 million companies. 

 

The company processed over $14 billion worth o transactions on November 11, branded as the "11/11 Singles’ Day” in China.

 

But for Jack Ma, running a company goes beyond profitability. 

 

“Sixteen years ago in my apartment, 18 people sat there and discussed that we want to use the Internet to help small businesses in the world,” he said. 

 

Perhaps, the company’s name perfectly captures such an aspiration. 

 

"We think Alibaba means open sesame online. There are many treasures online... Let the world benefit from it,” Ma said.

 

Mission possible

 

Ma the billionaire called on fellow business executives and leaders to support the “small guys” as he once was.

 

"Today is difficult, tomorrow is much more difficult, the day after tomorrow is very beautiful, but most people die tomorrow evening,” the Alibaba founder said. 

 

The future supposedly lies on the creativity of the 1.5 billion people born to live in the Internet age.

  

“In the next 10 to 20 years, those who are very small today will be big, they will be the people standing here and most people will listen,” Ma said.

 

"You should always have the hope, trying to make sure it is not on the movie that you see Mission Impossible. In the real life, you have to make the mission possible,” he added. – VS, GMA News