BUSINESS

Jack Ma

CEO, Alibaba Group

Jack Ma is the CEO of Alibaba Group, the Chinese multinational that has emerged as the world's largest retailer, with operations in over 200 countries. But there is one country in particular that has won his admiration. “There were thousands of times I said to myself and to colleagues at Alibaba: Never give up,” Ma told students attending a special lecture he gave at Tel Aviv University in May 2018. "And people in Israel, they never give up." Ma is putting words into action as well, investing Alibaba's venture capital funds in exciting Israeli tech start-ups like SQream Technologies and cybersecurity pioneer ThetaRay. Ma is proud of his record in China, telling the students in Tel Aviv that Alibaba had "created 33 million jobs in China, and we can create 100 million.” While on his visit to Israel with 35 leading Chinese business executives, Ma even took a side trip to the Dead Sea and was spotted in some of Israel's most fashionable eateries. (Photo: World Economic Forum / Jolanda Flubacher.)