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Showing posts with label Alibaba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alibaba. Show all posts

Monday, February 11, 2019

China's new tech soft power

Foreigners are tapping Chinese innovation to network and build businesses

International market: Foreign visitors to an expo in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, evince interest in forestry by-products and pay for them using WeChat Pay. [Photo by Peng Huan / for China Daily]

China's innovations impress foreigners, change startup game, boost confidence

The consumption power of more than 1 million foreigners working or studying in China is disproportionately bigger than their tiny share (0.07 percent) of the total population - and whizzes of the country's homegrown tech ecosystem are sitting up and taking notice, as the economy transitions from export and investment-led growth to a consumption-driven model.

Manufacturers of gadgets, providers of technology-enabled services, and developers of intellectual property like innovative technologies are all vying to make life easier for the relatively small but monetarily significant foreigner community in China.

French engineer Sebastien Bernard, 37, will probably agree. He came to work and live in Beijing four months ago. The first thing he was asked to do by his friends and colleagues was to download and install WeChat, the all-in-one killer app, on his smartphone.

He complied, and his life is much the better for it, he said. As it transpired, Bernard was e-invited to join a WeChat group.

Initially, 15 foreigners chatted with each other and shared their life experiences on the e-group. Gradually, the group grew to a 200-member community of sorts that shared not just useful information like job links or party invitations but, wait for it, e-commerce discount coupons and weekend getaway packages.

Friendly advice sensitized Bernard to other treasures on WeChat. Among many other things, he learned to use the app to order food, book a taxi ride, buy movie tickets, and make digital payments for e-commerce.

Using Chinese apps, some of his friends even play online games, and borrow or lend money using e-credit channels that are redefining inclusive finance.

According to a WeChat report, by May 2017, foreigners in China sent 60 percent more WeChat messages than Chinese users on average per month. They also use WeChat audio calls 42 percent more than Chinese users.

Notably, foreigners in China are good at using different functions or features of WeChat. On average, they use emojis 45 percent more than Chinese users per day. Typically, a foreigner sends 10"red packets" - cash e-gifts - per month. Nearly 65 percent of foreigners who use WeChat use the app's digital payment tool WeChat Pay.

"Here in China, having WeChat and Alipay accounts is like being plugged into the world. The apps include almost every conceivable service that can help make modern life easy," said Bernard.

Agreed Yang Qiguang, 26, a researcher from Columbia University's Tow Center who is pursuing PhD at the Renmin University of China in Beijing.  

"Chinese companies are creating a tech ecosystem that helps everyone, including foreigners, to work and live in a more convenient way."

Forming social networks using e-tools has become integral to modern life, particularly in urban areas - and China's tech ecosystem perhaps performs this function better than any other, by bundling consumption-related conveniences, he said.


"The tech ecosystem here facilitates people, including foreigners, to spend more. It is also boosting the confidence of both domestic and foreign companies operating in China. They know they now have powerful and reliable e-tools like apps to drive sales in a humongous market with more than 1 billion consumers," he said.

That's not all. Yang said China's tech ecosystem is fostering entrepreneurialism. Even foreigners living in China are beginning to use Chinese apps to start up in a variety of fields, including technology, education and entertainment. All this business activity is a long-term positive effect for the Chinese economy, he said.

Yang could well have been speaking about David Collier, 52, a Briton who has founded four startups so far, respectively in the United States, the United Kingdom and China.

Rikai Labs, his WeChat-based e-learning business in China, helps Chinese users to master the English language through proprietary automated software. Collier said every seven years, a big platform shift comes along - from web to mobile apps; from apps to messaging platforms - that creates huge opportunities.

"We chose to base our business on WeChat because it provides a great platform for a knowledge service. You have to build your business where people are spending their time, and the biggest messaging platform of all is WeChat," he said.

"Also, we can use WeChat payment for instant payment, QR codes for marketing purposes and to track user acquisition channels. Now with WeChat's mini programs, we can add interactive games and other features."

There's more. Links to Rikai Labs and related content can be shared socially online. "It provides a very compelling platform with real-time features, social distribution, marketing hooks and monetization," Collier said.

But risks abound too, he said. Platforms such as WeChat have become extremely competitive for startups. "If you don't move at high speed, riding with WeChat is like taking the maglev."

Data, however, suggest that foreigners appear to have an edge over Chinese users in exploiting the local tech ecosystem for small businesses and online social networking, which actually helps businesses directly or indirectly.

A case in point is Baopals, a startup founded by three expatriates. Call it the English Taobao, if you will. Baopals is anchored in Taobao and Tmall, the online shopping platforms owned by Alibaba Group, China's tech giant.

Foreign visitors to an expo in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, evince interest in forestry by-products and pay for them using WeChat Pay. [Photo by Peng Huan / for China Daily]

In July 2015, Charlie Erickson, Jay Thornhill and Tyler McNew, all US citizens in their late 20s and early 30s, developed Baopals, a website that helps translate product information on the Chinese Taobao and Tmall into English. In one stroke, the trio thus opened up the astonishing world of Chinese e-commerce, or 800 million products, to non-Chinese consumers in China.

Baopals already boasts 40,000 registered users, with 16,000 of them joining last year alone, doubling the user count in 2017. A Baopals user buys 58 items on average per year, and spends about 2,500 yuan ($368) to 3,500 yuan annually.

In addition to English, the website has Korean and Russian versions, making e-shopping simpler for foreigners in China.

The website is going from strength to strength on the back of the trio's innovations. It has introduced attractive sections like "The Cool, The Cheap& The Crazy". It accepts Alipay, WeChat Wallet and China UnionPay for payments.

Although e-commerce destinations are dime a dozen in China, most of them are in Chinese, and cater to Chinese consumers, so Baopals stands out, said Thornhill.

"Even on Amazon China, the default language is Chinese. When you switch to English, you still see lots of content in Chinese. They just haven't made the effort to serve China's expat population properly," he said.

That gap should spell business opportunities for those looking to start up, he said. "We are also changing the stereotype that Chinese goods are cheap products with low quality," he said, adding that several products including Xiaomi air purifiers and Huawei products are very popular among foreigners.

According to Thornhill, Baopals' revenue comes from service fee paid by shoppers. It charges a service fee of 5 percent of each item's price, plus a small fixed fee based on the item's price - 2 yuan for items priced below 30 yuan, and 8 yuan for items priced above 90 yuan. More than 2.3 million products had been sold by Jan 17 this year, a huge increase from the same period last year.

Given the experience in China, it is clear that homegrown technologies can succeed outside the mainland, he said. "This year is going to be a big year for Baopals, as we'll be launching our global service. Expats leaving China can continue buying things they love here, and foreigners everywhere can discover the treasures of China's online shopping."

Agreed Yang from the Tow Center. China's tech ecosystem, he said, provides foreigners on the mainland with well-rounded platforms to do business not only in China but across the world.

"It may take years for foreigners to build such infrastructure themselves. The time and energy saved during the process can be used for bolstering their own products and business."

It's not just small players such as Baopals that are drawing confidence from their success in China. Even e-payment giants such as WeChat Pay and Alipay, emboldened by their rapid adoption among foreigners in China, are confident of replicating their success worldwide.

Alipay has introduced its payment services, including departure tax refunds, at 10 major international airports in Japan, Thailand and New Zealand. Although the initial goal is to serve Chinese tourists traveling overseas, the larger plan is to roll out Chinese technologies worldwide and gain a global visibility and footprint.

So, it has struck cooperation agreements with local banks and companies in foreign markets, to provide e-payment services. For instance, its partners in Japan are Hida Credit Union and Kyoto Shinkin Bank, which helps attract Japanese users as well. Using such strategies, Alipay has accumulated more than 1 billion users in all, including 300 million outside China.

Sources:  China Daily/Asian News Network

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Monday, February 4, 2019

It Changed My Life: I always hire people who are better than me

It Changed My Life: I always hire people who are better than me, says Changi Airport ...
I always hire people who are better than me, says Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong .
In the background is a portrait of Singapore's prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, painted by French artist Jean-Pierre. ST Photo Kevin Lim

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In 2007, Mr Liew Mun Leong – then CEO of CapitaLand – received a staggering $20.52 million bonus for helping the property developer achieve a record profit of $2.76 billion that year.

He is a wealthy man, but wealth, he says, means nothing to him.

Now the chairman of CAG, he says he is contented with his home (a landed property in Chancery Lane) and his BMW 7 series. “But I don’t want to work on my money. I want to work on my grey matter and if possible, grow it,” he says with a chuckle.

It explains why he still holds not one, but several jobs. Besides CAG, he is chairman of Surbana Jurong.

He sits on several boards. In many ways, he says his career has been a case of opportunity and chance. “How many engineers get the opportunity to build airports? After more than two decades in the public sector, he took up the offer to steer engg and construction firm L&M Investments.... Continue Reading

Interview with Changi Airport Group's Liew Mun Leong: You've got mail - from the chairman

Mr Liew, who used to be the CEO of CapitaLand, started penning his "Sunday e-mails" back in 1998, initially for staff at the real estate giant and now at the two firms he chairs. A collection of these e-mails has been published over four volumes, wit





Mr Liew, who used to be the CEO of CapitaLand, started penning his "Sunday e-mails" back in 1998, initially for staff at the real estate giant and now at the two firms he chairs. A collection of these e-mails has been published over four volumes, with the most recent - Building People: Sunday Emails From A Chairman - now out.PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Staff of Changi Airport Group and Surbana Jurong have much to glean from e-mails that their head honcho sends on Sundays to share his reflections

Getting a note from the boss every few weeks, extolling the virtue of pragmatism or sharing his observations on a Mount Fuji climb, is pretty rare for most employees but it has been a regular occurrence for two firms in Singapore.

Former CapitaLand chief executive Liew Mun Leong started penning his "Sunday e-mails" back in 1998, initially for staff at the real estate giant and now at the firms he chairs - Changi Airport Group and Surbana Jurong.

A collection of these e-mails has been published over four volumes, with the most recent - Building People: Sunday Emails From A Chairman - now out.

Mr Liew, 70, told The Sunday Times: "I had embarked on a new hobby of writing e-mails as a means of reaching out to my colleagues and staff...

"It is a tool to influence their thinking, to curate their corporate values, their sense of responsibility to the company and to society."

The communication goes both ways and staff are welcome to offer feedback.

Mr Liew, who left CapitaLand in 2012, believes successful leaders must be good communicators, which is why he continues to send Sunday e-mails to staff at Changi Airport Group and Surbana Jurong.

These notes are written in his characteristically candid and casual style, containing anecdotes, personal reflection and a good handful of quotable quotes.

In an e-mail titled Pragmatism In Business, Mr Liew urged the management not to be emotionally attached to the buildings they have acquired or built. "ROE is returns on equity, not returns on emotion."

He also shared the key ingredients of his career success - the 5Ps, which stand for paranoia, perseverance, perfectionism, passion and pragmatism.

"Being paranoid forces me to plan ahead to deal with even the most remotely possible adversity... the consequence of not doing so may be regretful and unforgiving," Mr Liew, a trained engineer, wrote in another note.

He spends four to five hours on a Sunday afternoon crafting the e-mails, drawing inspiration from his travels, business dealings and observations.

MANAGEMENT STYLE

Whether in his previous role as a chief executive or as a chairman now, Mr Liew takes a hands-on approach in overseeing the companies, be it in the hiring of senior staff or assessing an acquisition target.

"I am involved very much in interviewing senior people, for example, a vice-president or senior vice-president. I have the vetting right... I do turn down candidates who are recommended by management."

The topic of talent development and having the right core values takes up an entire chapter in his new book.

Mr Liew emphasises the importance of "eyeballing" candidates and asking them questions about their personal and education background to determine their aptitudes, attitudes and interests. For senior appointments, he would even personally run reference checks on a candidate's past performance by speaking to former employers.

Having the right troops is a key consideration in driving corporate growth but, beyond talent, being committed is also critical.

"They may have talent, but they can stay with you for two years and leave... I am a firm believer of building a lasting organisation. And an organisation can last only when people last," he said.

SURBANA JURONG

As chairman of urban-planning consultancy Surbana Jurong, Mr Liew aims to build the firm into Asia's consultancy powerhouse on the back of the region's growing needs in infrastructure.

The firm announced last month that it had acquired Australian-based SMEC Holdings for $400 million, a move that takes the consultancy's workforce to 10,000 staff members in 40 countries.

Surbana has also been appointed to draw up a masterplan to develop Chongqing into western China's logistics hub. This is part of the third bilateral project - Chongqing Connectivity Initiative - between Singapore and China.

Apart from China, the company is involved in more than 40 projects in fast-emerging Myanmar, including masterplanning, project management and engineering design.

Mr Liew is bullish about urbanisation and infrastructure prospects in China, Africa and South-east Asia, and he is not overly concerned about whether the firm has the bandwidth to handle the increasing workload.

"I have one business philosophy and that is 'I am not worried about not enough people, I am worried about not enough business'.

"You get me the business, I will find the people to do it," he said.

There is potential for more mergers and acquisitions ahead as Surbana Jurong seeks to grow its capabilities in underground development and environmental engineering. Mr Liew noted that these are areas in which European companies have an edge.

CHANGI AIRPORT GROUP

It is apt to say that Mr Liew's work at Changi Airport Group has come full circle. He was appointed to the board in June 2009 but his involvement with the world-class air hub had begun much earlier.

More than 40 years ago, he had requested a transfer to the Public Works Department to learn to be an airport engineer - a move that had him involved in the construction of Changi Airport in 1975.

Today, it is one of the world's busiest international airports, handling more than 55.4 million passenger movements last year and serving 100 airlines flying to more than 320 cities.

"Aviation is always competitive, that is the order of the game... But I think we have performed well... we have won over 500 awards," Mr Liew noted.

With increasing competition from Middle Eastern airlines and airports for the European market, he said Changi Airport can focus its strategies on capturing a larger share of the pie in Asia.

"We are positive that the Asian aviation business is going to be very big. Look at China, for instance... Its outbound this year is already 140 million people. It was looking at 100 million outbound in the year 2020. But now in 2016, it has already outgrown that number."

Mr Liew's enthusiasm about growing Surbana Jurong and Changi Airport Group is unlikely to wane with age. When asked if he would retire at some point, he quipped: "I don't retire, I die!"

He added: "Society has invested so much in you in terms of the experience that you have and to say just because you reach a certain age, you fall off the cliff into nothingness - I think that is a silly thing."

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 I made money in real estate in my 20s. Not rich, but my retirement is more or less secured. I own a small business and the property that i operate out of. Preparing to move to a small town and live off of rental income, and probably open another small business there. I didn’t do anything fancy or amazing in my life, but i am very happy with how things turned out for me

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Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Jack Ma Embraces Blockchain for Ant But Warns of Bitcoin Bubble

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Billionaire Jack Ma has declared Bitcoin a potential bubble, reiterating his caution over the volatile crypto-currency as his Ant Financial on Monday launched blockchain-based money transfers between Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The founder and chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. extolled the possibilities of the decentralized ledger on which Bitcoin is based but warned that the digital currency itself may be driven by torrid speculation. Ma made his comments after officially launching a blockchain-based remittance service with Standard Chartered Plc and GCash, Ant’s venture with the Philippines’ Globe Telecom Inc.

Bitcoin set a 2018 low on Sunday before bouncing back a tad, underscoring the volatility that stems from increased scrutiny by regulators even as global central bankers and business chiefs raise questions about its viability.

“Blockchain technology could change our world more than people imagine,” Ma told reporters in the former British colony, home to a large population of Filipino workers and domestic helpers who send money home regularly. “Bitcoin however could be a bubble.”

Read more: Ant Financial Raises $14 Billion as Funding Round Closes

Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba’s backed by some of the biggest names in global finance and investment, has explored blockchain technology for years, including to clean up China’s murky charities. But the remittance service marks one of the first instances of the internet giant using the technology in mainstream finance.

On Monday, Ma also took potshots at the traditional banking industry, saying financial institutions were over-charging for overseas payments. Ant Financial, blocked from buying Moneygram International Inc., now wants to build something better and take blockchain-based remittances beyond just Hong Kong to the Philippines. He didn’t elaborate.

“Traditional financial institutions serve 20 percent of people and make 80 percent of profits. New financial institutions should service 80 percent of people, and make 20 percent of profit,” said Ma.

Read more: Jack Ma’s Too-Big-to-Fail Financial Giant Faces a Clampdown

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