“No matter how tough the chase is, you should always have the dream you saw on the first day. It’ll keep you motivated and rescue you”, said the man who despite facing many failures and rejections, chose not to give up and bounce back like a boomerang. Born in Hangzhou China, Jack Ma, a Chinese business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, may nor have been a bright student but sure was a quick learner. He developed English-speaking at a very young age and practiced it regularly to keep polishing it and making it better. How took three years to pass Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute and graduated with a BA in English.
After being rejected from almost 30 companies, Jack didn’t lose hope and traveled to the US in 1995 with many aspirations. On sensing the potential of the internet, Ma and He Yibing, a computer teacher, opened the first office for China Pages. Slowly and steadily as the company grew, it started garnering huge amounts of revenue, Jack with the help of his friends, started new companies over the Web. In 1999, he started Alibaba with 18 of his colleagues, a China-based business-to-business marketplace site to develop the e-commerce platform globally. As he tasted success in China, he further went on to expand his operations globally, raising over $25 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2017, Jack announced his step-down from the company after 18 long years of its establishment.
Jack Ma is also popular for his philanthropy through his “Jack Ma Foundation” for the education, environment, and health of the masses. He has given his contributions to victims of the Sichuan earthquake, Nepal earthquake as well as has generously been helping amid the times of Corona Pandemic.
Jack has been awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2013 and has also become chairman of the board for The Nature Conservancy’s China Program, a day after he stepped down as Alibaba CEO. In 2015, Asian Award honored him with the Entrepreneur of the Year award. In October 2017, Jack was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Science in Technopreneurship from De La Salle University-Manila, Philippines, an honorary degree of Doctor of Social Sciences by the University of Hong Kong and an honorary doctorate from professors Yaakov Frenkel and Yaron Oz at the Tel Aviv University. Recently, Jack Ma has received a first-class medal from King Abdullah II for his contributions in the COVID-19 crisis.
