On September 19th, a Chinese e-commerce company almost unknown to the Western world had its initial public offering (IPO) at the New York Stock Exchange. Jack Ma, the founder of the company Alibaba, not only instantly became the wealthiest person in the entirety of China, but also made himself well-known in the international business world. Similar to many underdog stories, Ma had a legendary “comeback” in life.
Having been born in a Chinese family in a small town of HangZhou in 1964, Ma was strangely drawn to English at a young age. He reflects that when he was in middle school, he would ride his bicycle to tourist attractions in HangZhou and ask foreign tourists to teach him English. English would definitely help Ma later in his life, because in the 1990’s, Ma had the opportunity to visit America. It was during his trip to America when he discovered Internet and the Silicon Valley.
Ma then decided to start his e-commerce company Alibaba when he returned to China by first introducing the use of Internet. Initially Ma’s partners thought he was crazy, as they did not understand at all the concept of the Internet. However, no one would have guessed that Alibaba would become the largest privately owned Chinese company 20 years later.
Image: http://vulcanpost.com/5407/billionaire-jack-ma-teaches-you-how-to-be-successful-in-life-and-business/