AsiaOne Magazine April-May 2018 Issue

GLOBAL asian
imprisonment.
2017
Jack Ma
TURNING EVeRY SMALL FAILURe INtO A BIG SUCCess
Not to be discouraged by anything adverse, Jack Ma kept
on learning from experiences and failures – both his
and others’. In his case, life has been his true teacher
as he learnt more practically rather than any traditional
channels of education.
He shares, “I failed a key primary school test two
times, I failed the middle school test three times, I
failed the college entrance exam two times and when
I graduated, I was rejected for most jobs I applied for
out of college.” His failures taught him a lot, and he
also found what would work and what not in a standard
educational system. Thus, he became a strong critique of
the traditional teaching practices, especially at business
schools, but kept his fondness of academics.He was a
university English teacher himself, and wants to teach
again someday in the future.
As his challenging time lasted for quite long, he was
also the only one out of five applicants to the police force
to be rejected and the only one of 24 applicants to be
a KFC manager to be rejected. A business tycoon now,
he further shares with a smile, “I applied for Harvard
ten times, got rejected ten times and I told myself that
‘Someday I should go teach there.’”
INsPIRING StORY Of FINDING WAYs
In the late 1990s, when Jack Ma had already started
Alibaba, he tried to get venture capital funding in Silicon
Valley for Alibaba and got rejected for running an
unprofitable business model. After making several tries,
he decided to go back to China without funding.
Though Jack Ma struggled academically, especially
throughout his early years in primary and secondary
schools, where he failed repeatedly, he focused on
other things that interested him and in which he found
his passion. Thus, he managed to teach himself English,
believing that as long as one kept one’s resolve and worked
to achieve one’s objectives, one had a chance to succeed.
He asserts, “If you never tried, how do you know there’s no
chance?”
The Alibaba and related businesses of Jack Ma we
know today were different initially. The business journey of
Jack started when he and his wife started a site-creating
company called China Yellow Pages in 1995.
Eager to do something more and exciting, but devoid of
any significant capital in his own pockets, he finally cofounded
Alibaba with 17 friends in Hangzhou.
ALL ROADs LeAD tO SUCCess
As Jack Ma was passionate to do something and succeed,
he tried his hands at several things. One of the ventures
he started with his friends include a site about China and
Chinese products online, by the name Chinapage, which
listed Chinese businesses and their products. Business
was good as a lot of companies inquired from around the
world; however, the revenue was marginal and sustaining
Chinapage became a struggle.
Jack Ma realized that without outside funding, he
wouldn’t be able to hold the sails for long. Always
thinking unconventionally, he decided to partner with a
governmental body; however, he ended up giving away the
majority control of Chinapage in the process to that body.
Funds were granted but the government involvement
brought its own challenges as now he had to deal with rigid
bureaucracy.
Such challenges resulted in stifling Jack Ma’s control in
the company and he found it increasingly hard to execute
his vision.
The entire experience proved to be unfortunate as Jack
Ma left the company eventually.
As he is one who can never be discouraged by any kind
and any amount of failure, he held on and focused on
Alibaba, which was also facing serious challenges due to
its aggressive expansion into international markets. Trying
to find solutions, Jack Ma successfully reorganized the
company’s operations, including closing many international
branches and focusing on strengthening Alibaba’s position
in the Chinese market.
Once he had a strong base in China, he expanded the
services of Alibaba and reengaged its international
expansion strategy.
“‘if you don’t try, how would you know there’s no
chance.’ never getting disheartened by his innumerable
failures, jack ma kept trying at whatever he could until
he became the richest person in china”
54 | ASIA ONE | april-mAY 2018