Truong Gia Binh, chairman of Vietnam’s leading technology firm FPT, talks with Jack Ma about his experience of building his Chinese e-ecommerce giant Alibaba at the Vietnam E-Payment Forum 2017.
The dialogue focuses on e-ecommerce and mobile payment, and how lessons from China can be applied in Vietnam.
On fintech
“We need banks to develop but the banks need us even more,” said Ma. “You like it or you don’t like it, the world is moving to a non cash payment era.”
Ma explained that when banks and fintech work together, customers, government, all of us “are happy” and e-payment will be successful.
“Security is the most important thing that an internet financial institution must have,” Ma added.
The billionaire went on to explain how, unlike popular myth, cash is not a safe means of transaction when corruption is rampant.
“When society is cashless society, everything is digitalized, everything is transparent,” he said. “No one can run away.”
On startup
“The first thing is not the money. It’s the idea, the thing that others can’t do. You have good idea, money will come, good result will come.”
Ma said one shouldn’t expect banks to lend them money when they have just started a business, suggesting to turn to parents and friends first.
“Don’t think too big, start with something small, and you love it,” said Ma, reassuring that during the digital age “eletronic money will help you.”
Alibaba chairman’s final piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is “when you want to become an entreprenuer think about what you will sacrifice.”
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Now in its third year, the annual Vietnam E-Payment Forum (VEPF), co-hosted by VnExpress and the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam, provides an opportunity for the government, experts and businesses to sit down together and discuss the latest trends in e-payment services and the best ways to apply them in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese government aims for cash to account for just 10 percent of total payments made in 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said at the opening of the forum.
“I believe mobile payment will soon boom and become common in Vietnam, just like we’ve achieved with mobile phones over a decade ago,” said Hue.
At a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc this morning, Jack Ma said he will consider establishing a store for Vietnam on Alibaba’s e-commerce app.
Later today, Jack Ma, the world’s most inspirational billionaire according to Fortune’s 2017 “World’s Greatest Leaders” index, will speak with 3,000 students to inspire entrepreneurship among young people.
The following day, he will will join world leaders at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Da Nang.
The six-day summit opened this morning in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang, with world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump, China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin expected to attend.
Source: VnExpress