The Story of Jack Ma

Image Source: Ejinsight via Bloomberg

The initial title of this biography was ‘The Story of Jack Ma: From English Teacher to ECommerce Billionaire” but even that will not suffice now. Jack Ma is more than just an eCommerce billionaire. Forbes.com calls him the “symbol of China's rise to No. 1 in Internet and mobile phone users.”

Before 2014, I didn’t know who Jack Ma was. It was around that time Alibaba Group filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the United States, in what became the biggest IPO in the country’s history. Just recently, I sat down to watch a documentary titled ‘Crocodile of the Yangtze River’. The documentary, a narration of the Alibaba story from the mouth of Porter Erisman - a former Vice President at Alibaba, was a simple story of a man who found his niche, saw opportunities and took them smartly.

A Short Biography of Elon Musk

The first time I saw Elon Musk, I thought he looked like Malcolm Merlyn from the TV series, Arrow. Or maybe my eyes are paining me? Sigh. I don't know, you decide.

Forbes Africa described Elon Musk as “the new Steve Jobs”, “the cult-favorite CEO”, and the one who has grabbed Apple’s creative crown. That last part may be up for a debate but it is difficult to deny that Elon Musk’s life isn’t worth looking at. I’ve become very careful when I’m tempted to label people as ‘inspiring’ but I think it’s only right to tag that to the man.