Inspiring Thailand with Jack Ma’s Asian wisdom

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2016
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Inspiring Thailand with Jack Ma’s Asian wisdom

If Thai businesses are seeking inspiration about how to compete in the digital world, they need look no further than Jack Ma, tech entrepreneur and billionaire co-founder of Alibaba, China’s leading e-commerce company.

Not only has he helped build a business group whose combined turnover reportedly trumps the combined value of that handled by major US ecommerce businesses and is expanding into the world of fintech (financial technology) with Ant (formerly known as Alipay), its financial services and e-payment platform, Ma says he is committed to inspiring a generation of Thai entrepreneurs and helping local businesses excel at e-commerce.
On his recent trip to Bangkok, where he met with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and a number of business leaders, and gave a keynote address at the Asia Cooperative Dialogue event, he said: “In the past 30 years Thailand has brought more than 50 per cent of people out of poverty … this is so amazing. If you can achieve this, why cannot we achieve more?”
Doing more, in Ma’s view, includes establishing the technology infrastructure and funding environment needed to support tech startups, improving the education system so students have the necessary skills to compete in the digital marketplace, and building stronger cooperation across Asia which is home to four billion people, half the world’s population.
Focus must be given to small and medium-size enterprises, which account for about 90 per cent of businesses in Thailand, as these will drive growth and economic activity over the coming three decades. In doing so, such businesses must learn how to harness the power of data, which will become a key resource in the next 30 years of the digital revolution which Ma says will be characterised by technological inclusion.
Current initiatives in Thailand, such as Thailand 4.0 and the government’s digital economy policy, as well as the recent launch of Prompt Pay, the national e-payment platform, are significant moves in the right direction. Ma says he will support these through a range of activities, from setting up technology start-up hubs to running e-commerce training, as well as helping foster regional cooperation via an “e-road”. This digital highway will supplement China’s New Silk Road: One Belt, One Road initiative which is building logistical and trade infrastructure that will help support the development of Asean.
  Ma’s vision of  “sharing Oriental wisdom” with the rest of the world and supporting small businesses and young people across the region requires that we all pull together. 
With this inspiration, we know all need to play our part in building a brighter digital future for Asia. 

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