Davos Stars: Jack Ma – Orchestrating change

by Jackie CameronJack Ma

Global e-commerce entrepreneur Jack Ma is among the newest additions to the World Economic Forum Foundation Board. The board serves as the guardian of the organisation’s mission and values and aims to be a representative group of key global stakeholders.

Ma joins luminaries such as International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi. Says the WEF of Ma’s election to the Foundation Board: “His achievements in building Alibaba into one of the largest global internet brands and his commitment to championing small business around the world will bring value to the Forum in its continuous efforts to foster entrepreneurship globally.”

Ma has celebrity status in China, but until this year was relatively unknown elsewhere. He is the founder and de facto boss, though not CEO, of Alibaba, which listed in New York this year in the largest-ever float on Wall Street.

The business leader is a self-made billionaire. An English teacher by training, his first career was as a translator. Ma discovered the internet on a visit to the US and realised there was a huge gap in the e-commerce sector in China.

Alibaba, started in 1998 with 17 colleagues, is one of the largest internet companies in the world, controlling an estimated 80% of all internet retail sales in China. Alibaba is believed to be preparing to compete in other markets against the likes of Amazon and other internet giants.

Ma is the subject of more than 300 business books. He possesses a rare ability to quickly make a profit out of an internet user base.

Perhaps best of all, Ma isn’t only focused on making money. Ma has committed to spending huge sums on the greater good, including channelling the equivalent of about 2% of Alibaba’s equity into a personal charitable trust.

In conjunction with BrightRock, we have taken to sharing the stories from our recently published World Economic Forum starter pack, ‘A Veterans Guide to Surviving Davos’ PDF with you – To download the full document, follow this link

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