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Every morning he used to cycle 70 miles to the Shangri-La Hotel where he offered free city tours to foreign tourists just to learn English. For nine years he did this tirelessly to master the language. He is Jack Ma the founder of Alibaba. He was rejected over 30 times including a travel guide job. Very few people might have faced these many rejections as even KFC hired 23 out of 24 applicants but rejected him. His only job acceptance was as an English teacher. Jack Ma Journey In 1995 during a trip to the U.S. Jack saw the internet for the first time. He noticed people placing orders online but realized there were no Chinese products listed. After returning to China he decided to start an online business. Without money or technical knowledge he took help from friends and launched the company ‘Haibo Translation Agency’ but it failed. He also founded ‘China Pages’ which was another failed attempt. Founding Alibaba Despite facing financial challenges and lack of investor interest Jack believed in his strategy. He focused on customers first employees second and investors very last. He believed that  if customers are satisfied it will naturally attract business and investments. He changed China’s online shopping and digital payment landscape. In 2000 Japan’s SoftBank led by Masayoshi Son invested $20 million in Alibaba which was a turning point for the company. His idea was ridiculed initially but now it has become a global enterprise with over 124320 employees. Alibaba became Asia’s first company to surpass a $500 billion valuation in 2022. Jack Ma once called ‘unworthy’ now has a personal net worth of $26.1 billion. Jack Ma Disappeared He once criticized China’s financial system and government interference in business. As an authoritarian government Jack’s statements didn’t go well with Chinese authorities. On October 24 2020 during a meeting with politicians and business leaders he openly criticized Chinese banks. According to The Wall Street Journal this upset President Xi Jinping led to Jacks downfall. After the meeting Jack disappeared from the public eye. The Chinese government halted Ant Group’s $37 billion IPO and launched an investigation into Alibaba wiping over $100 billion from the company’s market cap.