“Get Started” Seminar Reflection

Hello back to my blog!

In this blog post, I’m going to talk about a college seminar I have attended a week ago that focused on the topic of getting started in the business world and the experiences of three successful entrepreneurs. It left a great impact on me, so I hope this post can reflect that impact and leave you with greater knowledge on how to get started, utilize resources and most importantly, persevere.

Entrepreneurship is the process of setting up a new business, taking on a great financial risk in the hope of profit. An entrepreneur is often seen as an innovator. According to business expert Peter Drucker (1909-2005), entrepreneurs are people who search for change, respond to it, and exploit change as an opportunity. (Holden 2011)

The stories of three entrepreneurs are highlighted in this post: Jack Ma, Abdulaziz Aljouf, and Esraa Asery.

Jack Ma

The first speaker at the seminar was Jack Ma. Born in Hangzhou, China. He’s the owner and chairman of a successful e-commerce company called Alibaba Group, founded in 1999. (Forbes 2017) He is a global inspiration and a great example of an entrepreneur who found and run a small business, bearing all the risk and reward of the venture.

Jack Ma grew up in an average Chinese household and was a normal kid who used to fail his tests in Primary and Middle School. At a young age, Jack Ma wanted to learn English so he worked as a free guide to foreign tourists; he still treasures this experience and says that it helped him learn English more than school or his parents. After graduating from college and working as an English teacher, he was determined to make use of a new technology called the Internet. He wanted to promote the internet and build a trusted online transaction system that kept the money of the consumer safe until they received their product. He tried to pitch his ideas to the Chinese government but was faced with many rejections. Frustrated from the lack of cooperation from the Chinese government, he set his mind into setting up his own online trading site at his home; gathering a group of 18 people, including his wife, friends, and colleagues. Ambitious and determined to be successful, he and his group worked on building a new payment system called Alipay. It is now the standard payment in China and is very successful and Jack Ma is thinking of taking it worldwide. Alibaba is now one of the most popular e-commerce sites worldwide and is worth around $250B. Jack Ma values work ethic and believes that good equity and value system are even better than high pay, that’s what he thinks is the reason his employees stay with him for a long time.

Abdulaziz Aljouf

The second speaker was Abdulaziz Aljouf. An ambitious Saudi entrepreneur and founder/CEO of PayTabs, a company that provides e-commerce and m-commerce solutions and simple, safe money wiring services in the Middle East and North African region, founded in 2013. (Ahmad 2017)

After Abdulaziz graduated from college in 1999, he tried applying for a job in Saudi Aramco but was rejected for not holding a foreign degree. He was then determined to continue his education in the United States. In the U.S., he faced many hurdles and was told that he had to redo his bachelor’s degree. Nonetheless, he chose to pursue his dream at the time and continue even when it was difficult, which helped him get accepted for a scholarship later on. While studying for his degree, Abdulaziz saw the great demand for Middle Eastern products, including clothing and food, from Arabs studying and living in the U.S., so he opened a business and started buying products from the Middle East and India and selling them in the States. The business was doing very well and generated more than a million dollars in returns, however, it went bankrupt after the economic recession of 2008. After this great loss, Abdulaziz went back to Saudi Arabia, and there he realized that there was a need for a strong e-payment system. He worked to implement this payment system for his new business idea, PayTabs, and succeeded in pitching it to Saudi Aramco, the company that he initially wanted to work for. PayTabs is now a very successful company that provides services used by Aramco, SAMA and many other companies around the Middle East. Abdulaziz had failed many times before but he learned, never gave up and continued to fight to succeed.

Esraa Asery

The third speaker was Esraa Asery. A Saudi entrepreneur and CEO of eTree, an e-marketing company that offers various marketing services to interest users and clients. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” is Israa’s favorite quote. (eTree 2017)

Esraa had a very modest start. She gave up her job and her steady income because she wanted to do something she really wanted. She started an enterprise that provided digital solutions to companies and individuals. At some point, her company had great cash flow problems that needed to be fixed but she did not want to admit it, but in the end, her financial analysts and accounts manager managed to talk to her about it and ultimately found a way to fix the problem. Israa learned that hesitating is not favorable and having a support system and a group of trustworthy people is important. She thinks investing in failed entrepreneurs is more beneficial because they are the ones who have learned. She is always happy to see her workers develop under her supervision. She does not care about material goals and instead wants to work with people who understand her business’ mission and culture.

 

(Weissmann 2012)

According to Holden (2011), most economists today agree that entrepreneurship is necessary for stimulating economic growth and employment opportunities. In the developing world, successful small businesses are the primary engines of job creation, income growth, and poverty reduction. Therefore, government support for entrepreneurship is a crucial strategy for economic development.

That’s why Saudi Arabia is putting efforts into driving entrepreneurship and helping entrepreneurs. The image below demonstrates the actions taken by the country to stimulate innovation and support new businesses, as well as lists the organizations created for this purpose.

(Porter 2012)

Finally, Michael Porter (2012) lists the following opportunities that can drive entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia:

• Stable economy with a prudent financial structure
• Large, youthful and growing population
• Growing markets with many unserved niches
• No income taxes
• Emerging venture capital industry
• Large and sustained government investments in the economy
• Increasing foreign interest in investing in the Middle East

 

In conclusion, I think all three of these entrepreneurs, Jack Ma, Abdulaziz Aljouf, and Esraa Asery believed in themselves and their abilities. They embraced their failures and did not let them penetrate their goals, ambitions and ideas. They always looked for information and the right resources and made sure to seize every opportunity available. Another common quality I have observed in these three entrepreneurs is that they are always working towards a new target. Never stopping their journey. They also work within the tech world which solidifies the role and importance of technology and internet in the past, present and future.

In my personal experience, I have always tried to embrace my failures and set greater goals to achieve. I also do my best in utilizing my resources and opportunities, as I am always looking for volunteering work and always on the lookout for great internship and job opportunities. And, beside the three entrepreneurs mentioned above, I look up to my uncle as well, he is a successful entrepreneur and owner of a company that specializes in website and domain development.

All in all, I also have learned that entrepreneurs are crucial for economic growth and employment. Saudi entrepreneurs have recently begun to establish themselves in the Saudi economy and further future success can be achieved and sustained: when individuals and companies utilize resources, take risks, and seize opportunities; when government increases support and upgrades the business environment. (Porter 2012) Getting started is all about doing.

References:

Ahmad, T. 2017. Exclusive: Q&A with CEO of Paytabs AbdulAziz Aljouf [Online]. Available from: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/technology/2017/08/07/Exclusive-Q-A-with-CEO-of-Paytabs-AbdulAziz-Aljouf.html [Accessed 17 October 2017]

eTree 2017. eTreeians [Online]. Available from: http://etree.com.sa. [Accessed 17 October 2017].

Forbes 2017. Jack Ma [Online]. Available from: https://www.forbes.com/profile/jack-ma/ [Accessed 16 October 2017].

Holden, J. 2011. Principles of entrepreneurship [Online]. Available from: https://amview.japan.usembassy.gov/en/spirit-of-entrepreneurship/ [Accessed 16 October 2017].

Porter, M. 2012. Entrepreneurship and competitiveness: implications for Saudi Arabia [Online]. Available from http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/2012-0124_SaudiArabia_GCF_65a10518-39d6-4bf6-a7b1-8074892f0849.pdf [Accessed 19 October 2017].

Weissmann, J. 2012. America is not the entrepreneurial capital of the world [Online]. Available from https://www.businessinsider.com.au/america-is-not-the-entrepreneurial-capital-2012-10 [Accessed 18 October 2017].