Introduction

Being a successful entrepreneur means more than starting new ventures every other day. It
means the right attitude towards a business and the determination and grit to achieve success.
A successful entrepreneur has a strong inner drive that helps him or her to succeed. Let us take a
look about a successful entrepreneur in China as well as known Mr. Jack Ma. He is one of the
world’s greatest living examples of entrepreneurship today. Once a poor lad who survived by
guiding tourists, Jack Ma left no stone unturned to rise above his humble condition and achieve
success.

Ma Yun (Chinese name) known professionally as Jack Ma, is a Chinese business magnate,
investor, and philanthropist. He born on October 15, 1964. He is the co-founder and executive
chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. As of February 2018, he is
one of China's richest men with a net worth of US$41.3 billion, as well as one of the wealthiest
people in the world. Mr. Jack Ma is seen as a global ambassador for Chinese business and as such
is frequently listed as one of the world's most powerful people by Forbes. In 2017, he was ranked
2nd in the annual "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list by Fortune.
Background and Education

Jack Ma was born on 15 October 1964 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. He began studying
English at a young age by conversing with English-speakers at Hangzhou international hotel. He
would ride 70 miles on his bicycle to give tourists tours of the area to practice his English for nine
years. He became pen pals with one of those foreigners, who nicknamed him "Jack" because he
found it hard to pronounce his Chinese name.

Later in his youth, Ma struggled attending college. The Chinese entrance exams are held
only once a year and it took Ma four years to pass. After that, Ma attended Hangzhou Teacher's
Institute (currently known as Hangzhou Normal University) and graduated in 1988 with a B.A. in
English. While at school, Ma was head of the student council. After graduation, he became a
lecturer of English and International Trade at Hangzhou Dianzi University. He later enrolled at
Beijing-based Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and graduated in 2006.

Businnesses and Career Background

Jack Ma applied for 30 different jobs and got rejected by all. "I went for a job with the
police; they said, 'you're no good,'" Ma told interviewer Charlie Rose. "I even went to KFC when
it came to my city. Twenty-four people went for the job. Twenty-three were accepted. I was the
only guy...". In addition he applied 10 times for Harvard and got rejected.

In the mid-1990’s Jack became more acquainted with about the presence of the web and
started seeing this new pattern in technology as an extraordinary business opportunity. He even
regularly went by the United States in 1995 to take in more on the web. One of his companions
even demonstrated to him best practices to associate with a site. That year, he even raised a store
of $20000 to begin his own particular firm with a goal of exclusively focussing on the web.

The motivation behind the organization was to make sites for their customers. In spite of
the fact that this sort of business was moderately new, Jack figured out how to gain an incredible
$800000 in a matter of only 3 years. His achievement in the field of web prompted Jack’s
arrangement as the leader of a firm represented by the office ‘China International Electronic
Commerce Center’, in 1998. He kept working in this IT-based firm for the following one year.
 In 1999, Jack established an organization named “Alibaba” alongside numerous different
companions. The aim was to make a site which is more similar to a one stop search for a business
to business exchanges. From 1999 to 2000, the organization got a money related sponsorship of
$25 million, which fundamentally helped in the development of the organization. The
organization’s business soon extended to around 240 distinct countries.

Furthermore, he next attempted to wander into e-business, which he could predict as an

awesome cash making plan of the 21st century. In such manner, he likewise established many
firms, for example, ‘Taobao’, “Lynx” and ‘Ali Mama’. “Taobao” began drifting once again the
web as a top online business site and even got the consideration of the monster of the business, ‘e-
straight’, which was enthused about gaining the firm. In any case, Ma was impartial in going into
any sort of obtaining manage the firm. “Taobao” also snatched the consideration of another well-
known web shark, ‘Yippee’. The firm put $1 Billion in Jack’s wander.

Jack Ma deviated from conventional methods to give his nation the advantages of the
Internet-based business. He did not have any innovation and figuring foundation and that makes
his prosperity significantly more astounding than the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.
When he began his career as an English educator, few could have predicted him to become an
internet mogul.

Jack is fundamentally known for being the author of the web based business giant
‘Alibaba’, which is one of the top sites in the business. This firm, which is likewise a hardened
contender to different celebrated sites, for example, ‘eBay’, has helped Ma turn into the wealthiest
man in China. He and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos both became billionaires, and two of the richest
people in the world, through their successful e-commerce companies.

Indeed, Taobao’s rise has been phenomenal to the point that eBay offered to purchase the
organization. Jack Ma rejected and rather welcomed the $1 billion investment from Yahoo’s fellow
benefactor Jerry Yang. By 2012, the exchange volume of Alibaba was in excess of 1 trillion Yuan.
By 2014, Alibaba ended up plainly a standout amongst the most significant organizations on the
planet, in the wake of raising $25 million from IPO. Ma is the official administrator of the
organization and in addition its nine subsidiaries. In current time, he has a huge net worth of
US$41.8 billion.
Awards and Achievements

Jack Ma was named the ‘Businessman of the Year’ by the ‘Business Week’ magazine and
furthermore highlighted on the rundown of ’25 Most Powerful Businesspeople in Asia’, in 2005.
2009 was an exciting year in Jack’s life; he secured a spot in “Time” magazine’s rundown of
‘World’s 100 Most Influential People’. The web goliath additionally got the ‘2009 CCTV
Economic Person of the Year: Business Leader of the Decade Award’. The widely acclaimed
“Forbes” magazine had named him as the 30th most intense individual on the planet amid 2014.
At the ‘Asian Awards’ service held in 2015, he was regarded as the ‘Entrepreneur of the year’
award.

Challenges Faced by Jack Ma

A little boy once believed that everything was possible, as long as you tried your best for
it. Growing up, he had to face the edge of the knife more times than he was willing to count. He
faced a series of closed doors, be it when he was attempting to pass college or when he was turned
down for 30 different jobs. And somewhere along, his optimism began to get marred by
experience. Refusing to be dissuaded, he adopted a new and more practical mantra over time –
persistence is key.

While Jack Ma’s incredible story of earning $12 a month to becoming a multibillionaire is
a definitive rags to riches tale, he attributes his sparkling success to relentless effort over a turn of
luck. “Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be
sunshine,” he has often said.

And today, the almost stubborn persistence of a young man who refused to bend down to
fate has finally paid off. To nobody’s real surprise, Jack Ma was recently announced the richest
person in the whole of China, and one of the top billionaires of Asia as well.

For Jack Ma, this success today has come at the price of his youth in a way, where he
stepped one foot into quicksand more times than he can count today. However, this also taught
him to keep one foot on the ground and pull his way back onto safe land and watch his step in the
future.
Failing many exams at school
Coming last in class can have a serious impact on any child’s self-esteem, making them
feel completely worthless. Despite running a leading tech company, Jack Ma was, and
still is, terrible at math. He failed in multiple subjects in school and even failed the
university exam twice before being accepted into an obscure college. Fortunately for him,
he possessed an insight that reassured him that topping a class doesn’t equate to being
intelligent or driven. Names like Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, and Rabindranath
Tagore reaffirmed his belief that intellectual prowess is not limited to the four walls of a
classroom. He never stopped believing that his excellence lay elsewhere. Later, Ma even
applied to Harvard University 10 different times and faced rejection all 10 times. This
goes to show that more than securing a seat, his goal was to keep taking up a seemingly
impossible challenge and try to work it out in different ways.

Pre-Alibaba
Like any other student post-graduation, Ma was faced with the challenge of out-
competing his batchmates and freshers across the country to secure a good job with a
sufficient salary. A degree in English from a less than reputable college certainly didn’t
work in his favour, and although he applied to 30 different jobs for safe-keeping, he was
rejected from all. In an interview with Bloomberg, he even confessed that out of 24
candidates, he was the only one who was turned away from a position at KFC. On
applying for a post in the police, he was told that he was “no good”.

That is more number of rejections than anyone should have to count at one given go, and
if it were you and me, it would have possibly led to a breakdown of some kind. But for
Jack Ma, the challenge had become a part and parcel of life. He managed to procure a
small gig as a teacher in English and International Trade from the university he graduated
from. While his pockets were practically empty, his heart was full of hope for the next
step in his career. Even though at that point, he didn’t have a semblance of a clue to what
it would be.
Post-Alibaba
When Ma set up Alibaba in 1999, it wasn’t an immediate success. The Chinese economy
had not yet developed to support the e-commerce industry, which was believed to be a
threat to traditional shop businesses. At every step of the way, Ma had to fight off
resistance – from shopkeepers convinced that he was trying to put them out of business to
government authorities who were suspicious of the privacy-factor that this online
business model would affect. Coupled with this was the fact that Ma’s vision for the
company entailed limited promotions for his existing partners, who were told that they
could not rise beyond the ranks of managers. He did this so that a group of new hires
would be attracted enough to occupy the open high managerial positions. This proved to
be a fatal miscalculation on Ma’s part, since it led to the segmentation of the company
into many unproductive layers and led some of his best people to walk out and take their
resources with them.

However, he went on to rectify this mistake and concentrate on making his existing team
a stronger, more unified unit. In the meanwhile, his efforts began to be recognised
overseas. Soon enough, the company received its first round of funding from foreign
investors – a step in the direction of making it the unchallenged force it is in the e-
commerce world today.

As Jack Ma often puts it, “The very important thing you should have is patience.”
Without it, you can never reach even a fraction of your true potential- which someday,
could even change the world.
Personality Of Jack Ma

He values Attitude
When Jack Ma talks about the biggest mistake he ever made he describes how when he
founded Alibaba he told his team that the highest level they could achieve would be that
of managers, and that executives should be hired from the outside. Ma has learned his
lesson and now stresses the importance of attitude and passion over theoretical skills.

He Unites People under a Single Goal

Jack Ma understands that no matter how hard you try you will never be able to convince
every single employee, business partner, and potential investor to trust you or believe
what you say. Accepting that and changing your approach is another key to his massive
success. Rather than uniting his company under the vision of one person, he unites them
under a common goal. The vision is more important than the leader.

He has Foresight
Jack Ma believes that a good leader should have foresight. He should try to stay one step
ahead of the competition and anticipate how decisions will play out ahead of other
people. Taking time to develop creative thinking skills and following informed intuition
is a hallmark of any great business leader.

He Hires People with Superior Skills

When asked what separates a leader from an employee Jack Ma has gone on record
saying “Your employee should have superior technical skills than you. If he doesn’t, it
means you have hired the wrong person.” Focusing on the skills of employees and hiring
people with the know how to carry out your vision is an important pillar of any great
company.
He Defines Failure as Giving Up
According to Jack Ma, “giving up is the greatest failure.” If you go out, try your best and
fail to achieve your goal but see it through to the end you are a success. Like all great
leaders, Ma recognizes that a person is able to learn the most from obstacles and
hardships. They key to success is persevering and learning from your mistakes.

He Loves Life
“I always tell myself that we are born here not to work, but to enjoy life. We are here to
make things better for one another, and not to work. If you are spending your whole life
working, you will certainly regret it.” This sentiment lies at the heart of Jack Ma’s
lifestyle. Life is for experiencing the world and helping out other people. If money is
your goal, you have to change your mindset.

He Doesn’t Make Enemies

One the most unique aspects of Jack Ma’s business philosophy is the idea of friendly
competition. Jack Ma does not see his competitors as his enemies, rather they are friends
whom he can learn from and who challenge him to achieve his full potential.
CONCLUSION

By analysing the success of Jack Ma, few number of new ideas have been developed
about leadership. The understanding that strategic leadership is crucial for the overall
sustainability of any given corporation. When a company is exposed to the right leader, growth is
more or less certain (but the process might be rigorous). In the case of personality, a good leader
as demonstrated by Jack Ma much be very perseverant irrespective of the situation face. The
person also need to have bold goals and never be discouraged with failure. Failure is only but a
teacher that prepares the leader towards destined glory. Finally, once a leader has established
desired growth, it is important that the leader keeps the growth by applying necessary
management strategies that involves working together with his or her followers. The followers
are very important in the corporate world because they are actually the ones that effect the
business process while the leader is there to guide the process.