Jack Ma Success Story
Will you believe me if I say the person who was rejected several times for the simplest job, is now a successful entrepreneur and one of the richest person in the world today. We all know success and failure is a part of our life, it is up to us whether we get disappointed with those failures or move forward learning from them.
Today we are discussing one such start-up story of a failure who is now the richest person of China, Jack Ma, a businessman who owns the biggest e-commerce site, Alibaba. If you still can’t believe me, this article is for you.
Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Inspirational Success Story
Jack Ma Biography
Ma Yun is professionally known as Jack Ma, are a Chinese business magnate, philosopher, philanthropist, internet, and technology entrepreneur and founder, and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a conglomerate of internet-based businesses.
Ma was born on 10th September 1964 in Zhejiang, China. Ma started studying English at a very young age to entertain tourism and learn English. One of the foreigners couldn’t spell Ma Yun and he named him ‘Jack’ and that’s how Ma turned out to be ‘Jack Ma’.
Jack Ma Family, Wife, Children’s
Jack Ma an internet-based business sensation, was 2nd child out of three, born in 1964 to mother Cui Wencia and father, Ma Latifa. He was born and brought up in Hangzhou city along with two siblings- an older brother and a younger sister. Ma Yun belonged to a very average earning family and his parents couldn’t make much money for his studies. But Ma was a carefree child who had various hobbies and dreams and this made him enroll himself after efforts in Hangzhou Normal University where he met his wife Cathy Zhang. They soon got married after they graduated from college.
Zhang Ying helped Jack to establish his company and supported him all through his business. She is also involved with social workers and also works for the betterment of the environment in China. She gave birth to three children of Ma Yun which includes a son named Ma Yuankun and a daughter named Ma Yuanbao. Yet the name of the third child is not so reported in public. The family happily lives together in China.
Jack Ma Education
Ma later went to Hangzhou Normal University after failing two attempts of the Chinese entrance exam. He graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. After the degree, Ma worked as a lecturer in English at Hangzhou Dianzi University. He applied at Harvard Business School and got rejected for 9 times.
Jack Ma History
Ma Yun has a list of his failure even for the simplest job he applied. He was rejected by the police job, at the school and even he was rejected at KFC in his city. After several rejections, Jack found his first internet-based company with his friend, Hangzhou Haibo Translation Agency.
Jack Ma Foundation
Before being successful Ma, was quite out of luck which failed him in various sectors of work. After his failure into various jobs and once in his start-up, Jack finally established his start-up and named Alibaba. Jack who didn’t code or sell anything ever his whole life runs the biggest e-commerce company that has grown out from China and reached the world today. Alibaba, the company has grown to a conglomerate company. Alibaba also holds 9 subsidiaries including Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, ETao, AliExpress.com, 1688.com, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, and Alipay.
Jack Ma Life Story
Jack was first introduced to the internet and computers. The first word he searched was ‘Beer’ and results from different countries popped out but with no signs of China. By 1995, he understood that China was long behind the way in the internet and technology when he searched about China on the internet. So he created an ‘ugly’ website where he would write about China and when investors reached him in no time, he realized the power of the internet.
Jack and He Yibing opened their first start-up ‘China yellow pages’ and invested the US $20,000 and they raised capital equivalent to the US $800,000. Till 1999, Jack Ma headed the IT company set up by China International Electronic Commerce Center. He quit the job by 1999 and returned to Hangzhou.
Finally by 1999, along with his 17 friends he invested in a new venture start-up Alibaba, in his apartment. Later in late 1999 and January 2000, they raised $25 million capital from other investors. Jack who didn’t code or sell anything now runs the biggest e-commerce company that has grown out from China and reached the world today.
Alibaba’s vision was to improve the global e-commerce system and make a platform for Chinese enterprises. In 2003, Jack founded Taobao Marketplace and after rapid success, eBay offered to purchase the company even though Jack rejected the offer. Instead, he got supported and investor of $1 billion from Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.
Alibaba after raising $25 billion in the US market became one of the most valued technology companies. Jack today holds Alibaba along with other subsidiaries: Taobao Marketplace, Tmall, ETao, AliExpress.com, 1688.com, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Juhuasuan, and Alipay.
As of September 2014, Alibaba raised $25 billion on the New York Stock Exchange. With this amount, Alibaba became counted among the most eminent tech companies in the world. Ma announced on 10th September 2018, that he would step down as executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding by next year.
His love for entertainment moved further with his acting debut in Kung fu short film in 2017. He also participated in the singing festival and danced on Michael Jackson’s inspired performance during Alibaba’s 18th-anniversary party.
Jack Ma Net worth and House
Jack Ma’s estimated net worth is around $44 billion today in 2020. He got his sources established from Alibaba and share market in multi investment companies. He lives a luxurious life along with his children and wife in China. According to the sources, his property is $23 million in New York and $193 million worth home in Hong Kong. He owns an expensive car collection along with a private jet worth $61.5 million.
Jack Ma Achievements:
- In 2004- China Central Television was award as one of the ‘Top 10 Economic Personalities of the Year’
- In 2005, Jack was selected as ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum.
- In 2007, Businessweek also selected him as ‘Businessperson of the year’
- In 2008, Barron’sfeatured him as one of the 30 “World’s Best CEOs”
- In 2010, Ma was selected by Forbes Asia as one of Asia’s Heroes of Philanthropy for his contribution to disaster relief and poverty.
Other than this, there is a list of awards and honors Jack Ma received for his outstanding work in the internet business market. Alibaba and Jack Ma may not be a household name out of China, but still, Alibaba is worth more than other E-commerce company and processes more goods than eBay and Amazon combined.
Although, the story may find you a struggling and a fairytale to you, the hard work and the success are what Ma required to be where he is today.
Failure doesn’t define you, what you do after you fail determines whether you are a leader or looser. Difficulties come every way but what you can try is stand stronger every time you fell and this is how Ma makes an inspiring story for you.
“Keep dreaming, keep working hard for your dreams, no worries if you fail but what matters are your efforts.”
Jack Ma Quotes
Some of the quotes which Jack Ma believed in and helped him stand stronger during his hard phase. These are the quotes framed by him after his experience with his business.
- “Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.” – Jack Ma
- “I’m not a tech guy. I’m looking at the technology with the eyes of my customers, normal people’s eyes.” – Jack Ma
- “If Alibaba cannot become a Microsoft or Wal-Mart, I will regret it for the rest of my life.” – Jack Ma
- “I don’t want to be liked. I want to be respected.” – Jack Ma
- “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.” – Jack Ma
- “The lessons I learned from the dark days at Alibaba are that you’ve got to make your team have value, innovation, and vision. Also, if you don’t give up, you still have a chance. And, when you are small, you have to be very focused and rely on your brain, not your strength.” – Jack Ma
