7 www. ceotodaymagazine . com China DHgate has seen some incredible successes! Can you tell us about the things that make the company unique? As a female entrepreneur, I’ve brought a diversified perspective to themale-dominated business world. We think the business needs both conquest and win-win cooperation. Our philosophy is not to compete with local e-commerce and retailers. Instead, we want to empower everyone to participate in global trade. With this value in mind, we were able to build out a stronger ecosystem with our partners, including individuals, retailers, and logistics companies worldwide, to innovate our business continuously. The pandemic has made digital transformation a top priority and a key trend for all industries. The companies without digitalisation are lagging. Digital equality, especially for MSMEs, is a critical challenge. Our de-centralized social e-commerce SaaS platform – MyyShop (www.myyshop. com), can help lower the entry barriers for everyone. Without enough capital, anyone can build up their own e-commerce stores within just a few clicks, all the server setup and maintenance are taken care by the platform, and are easily connected with various services, including product selection, logistics, payment, marketing services and so on. You care deeply about helping other women in business. What are some of the ways you support them? My unchanged belief is women help women. Being one of the first-generation women entrepreneurs in China in the internet era, I have committed to engaging with international organisations such as APEC Business Advisory Council, B20, BRICS Women’s Business Alliance (WBA) and associated working groups that uphold women’s economic participation, promoting gender equality and inclusion, and many more for years. Our goal is to connect the dots across different organisations, coordinate efforts and maximise resources. More importantly, increase visibility to get our voices for women heard. I also request my team to provide more chances for women leaders to show their talents and demonstrate their unique strengths in the world. We have worked with the APEC Business Advisory Council and APEC Women Connect to launch Her Power Entrepreneurship Competition, which works as a platform to unlock new thinking for businesswomen, inspire them by leveraging the digital tools and give them a chance to show their presence and visibility in the world of business. I advocate an inclusive, empowering culture in the company and the company policies are designed to create an equal work environment for male and female employees, which is quite important to the continuous development of the company. At DHgate, women are granted fair opportunities and can enjoy the same rights and benefits as men in terms of recruitment, promotion, talent development and other areas. Currently, the proportion of women employees reached 55.72% in 2020, and the share of female leaders has risen to 40.79%. In addition, women can enjoy other benefits, like at least 128 days of full-pay maternity leave, baby care rooms for new moms and so on. What are your top tips for women who are starting now?What would you have told your younger self if you could? From my point of view, the centralisationdominated era is a past, which has created a kind of unfairness in the business world. We believe the future is a de-centralised era and women should be given more opportunities to show their leadership. At DHgate, our vision is to help others succeed, and only in this way, we will become more successful. I believe the digital tool is a perfect solution in addressing gender inequality. Womenled businesses, particularly MSMEs, should revisit their digitalisation in the organisation, digital transformation strategy regularly, proactively identify the challenges and opportunities for internal efficiency improvement and external innovation to keep business thriving. Let me show you one example. Last year, 756 female entrepreneurs all over the world, mainly from Africa, America, Asia and Europe, took part in the Her Power Entrepreneurship competition and shared their innovative and visionary voices on success with the help of digital tools. The story of Miriam Febechukwu is very inspiring. Coming from Nigeria, she is the champion of last year’s competition. Due to the inequity she faced in the workplace, she quit her job despite of medical background and then leveraged the power of e-commerce to start her own business. Now she has made a difference in the e-commerce world by making a living from the e-commerce business and helping other women to succeed in this field. In addition, women need to always seek innovation, which is a must-have for businesses to survive and thrive, particularly for MSMEs and women-led businesses. Working in the digital trade business, I fully recognize the necessity and the power of innovation for a business to survive in today’s fierce competition. Not to mention to thrive. We must further promote women’s participation in technology-intensive and innovation-driven sectors. What does this award mean to you? I am greatly honoured to win this award. This is a testament to my team’s continuous efforts in empowering MSMEs and female entrepreneurs in the era of the digital world. I am passionate about what we are doing now and will spare no efforts to equip more women with digital tools to succeed in the business world.
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