Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s popularity has seen an unfathomable rise in 2014, with the biggest IPO in history, making him China’s richest man. Ma is now worth an estimated $25 billion. A pure rags-to-riches story, MA who was a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 with $60,000 pooled together from his friends and the company is now valued at more than $240 billion after its recent listing in the United States. In his recent visit to India, Jack Ma said that he wanted to invest more in India. “India is a great nation. A nation full of potential and hope. We will invest more in India,” he said. He also referred to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches and described them as “passionate and inspiring”. Alibaba, which is already working with many businesses in India, will invest more in India and work with Indian entrepreneurs and technology companies. India is one of the nine countries where Alibaba’s B2B marketplace is present. Besides China and India is it also present in the US, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Turkey, Taiwan and Vietnam. “If both nations work together they will benefit from each other. These two nations have great culture and are influenced by new technology. I believe this is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs of both nations to work together to improve the culture, and the world,” he had said.