Ma Yun: When I First Started My Business, I Didn'T Even Know What Computers Were.

October 21st afternoon, Beijing time in the morning of October 17th.

At the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Association announced the first winners of the "innovator" and presented the awarding ceremony. 13 individuals or teams who made outstanding innovations and contributions to the development of Asian region were honored.

As the only representative of Chinese entrepreneurs, it ranks first in the list of "makers of change".

At the awards ceremony, Ma recalled his entrepreneurial experience. "When I first registered with the first company, I wanted to be called the Internet. The registration office told me," no, there is no word in the dictionary. You have to change the name to register the company.

He advised me to use a computer consulting company, but I don't even know what computers are.

So my first company was called Hangzhou hope computer consulting company, which was very bitter at that time. I knew nothing about technology and computers at that time.

The Asian Association's official announcement of Ma Yun's award is:

When he was ten years old, Ma Yun would ride a 40 minute bicycle to the local hotel in his native Hangzhou every morning just to practice English with foreign tourists.

That is the first sign of his global vision. It is this global vision that has led him to become the leading Internet entrepreneur in China and the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba group, the largest e-commerce company in the world.

Because of this global vision, we awarded the "Asian creator" annual award to Ma Yun.

:

Thank you very much! I am very proud and humble to be here tonight.

I never thought that there would be a chance to come to the United Nations in this lifetime.

Thank you, Ms. Shi Jing Shu. Thank you very much for the Asian Association.

I particularly want to thank Ellie for his comments on teachers.

At the age of twelve, I started learning English, and I didn't know why. I just fell in love with this language.

At that time, at 5 every morning, I would ride a bike for 40 minutes to find foreign tourists in the hotels in Hangzhou. They taught me English, and I took them to visit the city as an exchange.

From then on, I began to have a habit of thinking with my own brain for a few minutes.

When everyone is right, wait for a few minutes. When everyone says no, wait a few minutes and think about the matter.

Because when you look at the world from a different perspective, you may also do things in different ways.

Tonight, I am deeply inspired by all these makers.

In listening to their stories, I realized that there are so many things I can do in the world. There are so many things that I can do better. There are so many things that we can do together.

Today, I am not representing myself, but on behalf of all those little people who work with me, small businesses.

When I left university in 1995, I told the headmaster that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and do Internet.

He asked me: what is the Internet? I answered: I don't know. After listening to me for two hours, he told me, Jack, I know you want to do something. I don't understand what you do.

But if you want to come back in ten years, then come back.

I said, "well, ten years later, if I want to come back, I will come back."

As a teacher, you will always believe in the future.

You believe that knowledge will change people's lives. You believe and hope your students are better than you.

Students are the best products.

Today, I am no longer a teacher, but I believe that in the company, CEO stands for chief Education officer.

Because of a lot of words, my colleagues don't like me.

But I am responsible for them.

When I started my business, it was very difficult to become a small entrepreneur in China. It took me 5 months to borrow 500 dollars, and the company failed.

I didn't have a chance at that time, and I didn't know how to run an enterprise.

When I first registered with the first company, I wanted to be called the Internet. The registration office told me, no, there is no word in the dictionary. You have to change the name to register the company.

He advised me to use a computer consulting company, but I don't even know what computers are.

So my first company, called Hangzhou hope computer consulting company, was very bitter at that time. I knew nothing about technology and computers at that time.

For the past fifteen years, I have often said that I was a blind man riding on a blind tiger's back, but those experts riding on the road failed and we survived.

Because we are thinking about the future, and we believe in the future.

We change ourselves.

We never complain about others.

I told the team in my apartment that we have to prove ourselves, because if we can succeed, 80% of the young people in China will be able to succeed.

We do not have rich father, uncle right, we did not get a piece of money from the government, did not get a piece of money from the bank, we start from scratch.

So I must work hard, not only to prove ourselves, but also to prove that our generation has proved the power of the Internet.

That's what I want to share with young people.

Another thing I deeply believe in is that small is beauty, and if it does not help small people, then I help the little ones with the Internet.

Multinational companies are well looked after by the Wall Street, and only small businesses have no one to help them.

If we create value for them, we will succeed.

Our philosophy is that if you help others succeed, you will succeed.

I have always believed in the future, believe in young people, and believe in innovation.

As the Secretary General said, today's world is a lot of trouble.

The world is full of complaints today.

I complained when I was more than 20 years old.

Microsoft, IBM, CISCO, they are big enterprises, and we are helpless small companies. They are too big.

At that time, we also complained.

But now I no longer complain, because we have become one of the big guys.

I want to tell young people that if most people are complaining, that's the opportunity.

Some people choose to complain, while others choose to change themselves and help change others.

The opportunity lies in those complaints.

I will always believe this, and so are we.

The last and most important thing is that everyone here will be given a T-shirt.

This is a special limited edition T-shirt of Alibaba IPO.

All these T-shirts are made by small people, our small businesses.

This is for small people, small is beautiful, small has power.

On the T-shirt is the Alibaba's success code that few people know. Just like sesame opens the door, Alibaba has a password, that is, "dreams have to be there. If one day comes true?"