Jack Ma is the founder and chairman of Alibaba. Photo credit: Asia Society.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma is in Manila to receive an honorary degree and one of the first things he did, of course, was test the speed of the internet – said to be the slowest in the region.
“It’s no good,” he said this morning, drawing laughs from the audience at his acceptance speech.
Yet every problem is an opportunity, he stressed. “Opportunity exists in the areas where most people complain. If you can solve the complaint, you have a chance. When we started Alibaba, internet speed in China was terrible – much worse than here now.”
He urged the Philippines to “work together” to improve web speed and coverage, pointing out how the internet has become essential like electricity.
“We have to make sure everybody is connected. When you’re connected you can be mobile, and when you’re mobile you’re everywhere,” said the billionaire.
With rapid technological change, Ma said manufacturing will no longer be the main driver of growth as artificial intelligence and robots kill jobs. Instead, businesses that make full use of the internet will win. That’s because world internet users will grow to 6 billion in 10 years and most trade will happen online, he predicted.
“In the future, 80 percent of businesses and 80 percent of the business in your business will be online. We believe the world will be totally different.”
For emerging markets, Ma believes the internet is crucial in bringing inclusive services, for instance financial tools that allow the unbanked population to send and receive money.
The speech ties back to Alibaba’s expansion in Southeast Asia, where it has struck a series of fintech deals through unit Ant Financial. In the Philippines, Ant Financial snapped up a stake in telecoms operator Globe’s Mynt, which runs Gcash. Gcash – similar to Ma’s Alipay – allows people to add phone credit, pay bills, send money, make donations, and shop online.
“We believe a lot of unfairness will be broken because of technology,” said the Alibaba chairman.
While technology “means a lot,” he explained in the end, “it’s people who use technology that changes the world.”
He said the Philippines is poised to ride the wave of automation and AI because the “service industry will always be key and the Filipino people have the best heart of service.”
Ma was bestowed an honorary Doctor of Science in Technopreneurship degree by the Philippines’ De La Salle University. He flew to the country upon the invitation of a university student leader.
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