Alibaba founder Jack Ma is one of the richest people in the world, fourth-wealthiest in china after Zhong Shanshan, Ma Huateng and Zhang Yiming with a net worth of 22.9 billion dollars according to Forbes.
But there was a time when he got rejected from every job he applied to after college including KFC.
Speaking at the University of Nairobi, Jack said 24 people applied for the job at KFC, but 23 got hired and he wasn’t one of them. the early rejection taught him an important business lesson. “you have to get used to failure,” ma added.
Another time when Ma lost out a job was to his cousin. “My cousin and i waited for two hours to be the waiter for a four star hotel in my city, on a very hot day, but my cousin’s score was much lower than mine, he was accepted and i was rejected!”
Although he can joke about it now, Ma says the continued rejection was painful but prepared him for his entrepreneurial future.