Steve Jobses continue to be born ... in China www.asia.nikkei.com
CHONQING -- The man who championed computers as tools that would enrich people's lives, then decades later introduced us to the smartphone and put apps in our pockets, is now, more than five years after his death, helping to spawn a wave of like-minded entrepreneurs in China.
Steve Jobs is so revered in the country that one entrepreneur after the other has been knighted "the Steve Jobs of China."
The first to gain the title was Jack Ma Yun, chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding. Ma quit a teaching job in 1999 to start a business that would go on to become one of the world's largest companies.
But it has been bestowed upon many others. Feng Jun, head of Aigo Digital Technology, which emerged as a maker of portable music players around the time of the Beijing Olympics, succeeded Ma as the next Steve Jobs of China.
More recently, Lei Jun, CEO of rapidly flourishing smartphone maker Xiaomi, has followed. Huang Zhang, head of Zhuhai Meizu Technology, one of the leading candidates for greatness in the post-Xiaomi race, has also made the list. Jia Yueting, chairman of LeEco -- which began as a video streaming service before diversifying into TV services, smartphones and environmentally friendly vehicles -- has also worn the halo.
Many Chinese dream of becoming huge successes. The number of Chinese citizens in the Hurun Report ranking of wealthy individuals with assets of 2 billion yuan ($289 million) or more increased by 179, to 2,056, in 2016. Of them, at least 68 were born in 1980 or later. Most in this subset head information technology ventures.
Although most Chinese university students prefer stable jobs, either in the public sector or at big companies, about 3%, or just over 200,000, start their own businesses after graduating. Close to half of university graduates are said to want to start businesses after gaining some work experience.
The government has begun helping would-be entrepreneurs gain funding.
Some question whether the Steve Jobses of China are really producing any new value, and some of their companies are losing momentum. Yet entrepreneurs wishing to become the next Jobsian guru are in fact invigorating Chinese society and driving economic growth.
Published Date:2017-01-13