During one of Jack Ma's speeches in 2017, he mentioned that our world is undering the change by the 5 new things, the new retails, new manufacturing, new finance, new technologies and new energy. Let's see the details about the five new things now.

"I think there are several new technologies and new trends will change the world, such as new retail, new manufacturing, new finance, new technologies and new energy. 

These five new upcoming changes are about to change everyone, every industry and every business in the next 10 to 20 years. So, what is new retail? We talk about e-commerce today. China is growing rapidly, but the traditional retail business is not working well. China's e-commerce growth has soared and its growth rate has surpassed that of the United States. One of the reasons is that the traditional retail industry and the infrastructure in the United States are very good, so that the internet can’t penetrate it. But in China, the traditional retail industry is not doing well. I think Malaysia and Indonesia are the same. That’s why the Internet has become a new technology that enables us to optimise and grow the new retail. 

So, as I said back then, e-commerce was just a dessert in the United States, but a main course in China. What is new retail? It means that the integration of online and offline logistics. In the next 10 to 15 years, there is no longer a so-called online and offline business anymore. Online and offline will be together in the future. 

What is new manufacturing? In the past centuries, manufacturing meant scalability. The bigger, the better. But look at Wal-Mart, you see the pipeline, standardisation and low labour costs. It will be customisation in this century: everything will be customised and manufactured intelligently. A lot of things will be changed. When you install an operating system on a phone, only 20% of the time is used for calls, the other 80% is used for other purposes. 

Imagine if we had an operating system installed in a car, or if we had it built into a lamp, a fridge or a washing machine, the world would change. Everything will produce results. Likewise, new manufacturing will change many industries. If your industry today relies on pipeline, standardisation, low cost, low value and low price, you will not have a future.

The third is new finance. Over the past 200 years, the financial industry has been trying to focus on the “20:80 approach”. What they do is only for 20% of the population, big companies, multinationals and wealthy companies. They do not care about the remaining 80% of companies, or small and medium-sized businesses without financial support. The new finance uses data technology and new technologies, strengthens these 80% of SMEs and those consumer groups that have not previously been reached. This change came about through the Internet. I also believe that many large banks and traditional banks will embrace this change.

Today, traditional banking services are neither for 80% of the market, nor for 80% of consumers. But this new wave will come sooner than you think. Take a look at the mobile technologies and the mobile payments in India. Within just two years, our local partners have provided on-site mobile payments to 200 million people who use their mobile phones to pay and withdraw money. If you use the traditional method, it is almost impossible that this would happen within two years. The new financial institutions will change the situation and the new financial system will change the world.

The next NEW is about new technologies. In Asia, we missed the Information Technology (IT) era and today we are in the era of Data Technology (DT). From the IT era to the DT era is a completely different concept. IT tries to make you stronger and empowers yourself, DT empowers others. Asia lost opportunities in the IT age. We do not have IBM nor Microsoft, Cisco and Intel chips. But in the DT era, we have a chance to win. I think this is our opportunity for Asia and small businesses, especially countries with backward Internet technologies. Today, our mobile phones are more powerful than the mighty PCs of 20 years ago. Look at Asia and look at Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, so many farmers are using mobile phones. If we can use mobile technology to collect data, their lives will be different.

Therefore, we should strive to achieve development through DT rather than using the IT path. What is mobile technology? What is data technology? What is artificial intelligence or machine learning? These are my thoughts, Asians can find good opportunities.

The last thing I want to say is about new energy. The energy of the first technological revolution was coal. The energy of the second technological revolution was oil. What is the energy of this century and the next century? It is Data. Nothing can be done without data. And I want to tell all the young people here, do not say that you do not have the chance like your father. Your father may not have the opportunities brought by these five NEWs. If you learn and prepare from now on, you may succeed in 10 years. You may not be successful tomorrow, but if you are ready, if you believe in technology and believe that a technological revolution will change the world, just do it. Looking back on 10 or 15 years ago, your “today” is not determined by your yesterday, but by what you did and your efforts 10 to 15 years ago. So, your life after 15 years is determined by your decisions and hard work today. "