Responsible technology can transform millions of lives, writes Eric Jing in the Financial Times
Originally published in the Financial Times on January 18, 2019.
This is a look back at an article from Ant Financial chairman and CEO Eric Jing in the Financial Times, where he described how technology companies can work directly to help small companies and the underprivileged.
Ahead of the annual Davos meeting earlier this year, the World Economic Forum warned that the world faces risks from slowing global growth and economic inequality.
Using the example of a photo exhibition that Ant Financial organised last year highlighting 100 lives in China that were transformed by the internet, Eric remarked on the challenges ahead.
“Looking through the exhibit, what struck me was both the immense potential for technology to help underprivileged people, and how many more lives are still waiting to be touched.”
Amid the rapid advances in technology — from the increasing availability of faster internet to artificial intelligence and quantum computing — Eric also warned about the growing calls in various countries to look inwards.
In the article, he reflected on the belief of economist Paul Romer, winner of a 2018 Nobel Prize for research into how technological change can be transformative, that policies that impede the free flow of new knowledge and insights are especially bad for nations that run the danger of being left behind.
“If the situation worsens, ordinary people will inevitably bear most of the pain. That means responsible organisations must take up their cause and make sure they are not left behind.”
With an estimated 2 billion individuals and 200 million small businesses in emerging economies lack access to formal savings and credit, according to the consultancy McKinsey, there is a lot of work to be done.
One potential solution, Eric suggests, is to look at how technology can improve access to basic financial products and services, such as business and education loans, investments for savings, and health insurance.
The mission for Ant Financial is to try and make these more affordable for small businesses and individuals around the world, he writes.
“In this area, Ant is standing on the shoulders of giants: the late Jing Shuping founded the privately owned China Minsheng Bank, which grew over the years by focusing on lending to underserved small and medium-sized enterprises, and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, whose Grameen Bank pioneered microcredit in Bangladesh.”
In the article, Eric described how some small entrepreneurs are already taking matters into their own hands, with available technology.
For example, Jiangxi province native Jiang Jinchun, who was featured in Ant Financial’s photo exhibition, has been using his mobile phone to live-stream the picking and drying of bamboo shoots, tea leaves and other specialities in his village of 200 households. That has helped their produce become “hot commodities” throughout China.
By tapping technology in creative ways, Ant Financial and its partners can work together to benefit more small businesses and individuals worldwide.
To do so, writes Eric, will bring significant benefits not just for local communities, but to the wider global economy.
And that’s something our world urgently needs today.
You can also read the full article on Ant Financial’s website.
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