As expected, Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon on Wednesday showed up at the company’s Smbhav event for small and medium business enterprises in India, where he spoke at length about where the country is headed in the coming years.
Speaking to Amit Agarwal, Country Head, Amazon India, Bezos shared his insights on the company, his early years and what Amazon plans to do to tackle climate change, as well as his space plans with Blue Origin.
In addition to this, he announced a slew of commitments for the Indian market, which included an investment of over $1 billion to help digitise the small and medium enterprise sector in the country. He also says Amazon will export about $10 billion worth of Make-in-India products by 2025.
In the fireside chat with Agarwal, he also narrated the story behind how Amazon was created and who inspired him.
What Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Said
- Amazon to invest $1 bilion to digitise Indian small and medium enterprise business sector
- Amazon will export Make-in-India products worth $10 biillion by 2025
- Amazon India will eliminate all plastic usage by June 2020
- He predicts that the 21st century is going to be India’s century
- The most important alliance of this century is going to be between India and US, that are the world’s oldest and largest democracies, respectively.
- He points out that anyone who is not acknowledging climate change, is not being reasonable
Bezos was trying his best to woo the small business sector and this enticement comes at a time when Amazon is being probed for its alleged anti-competitive practices with its online business in the country.
Bezos also claimed the jacket he’s wearing for the event was gifted to him by one of the SMBs he visited.
Turning Back the Clock to When Amazon Began
In between all this, Bezos manages to narrate the story behind how Amazon was formed and how it has become one of the largest technology giants in the world.
“I was living and working in New York city in 1994, I came across the fact that the world wide web was growing very quickly. It was tiny but it was growing very quickly. The initial idea was to sell books online.
I went to my boss, David, whom I liked a lot.
I went to him and told him that I had this idea to start a company that would sell books on the internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park in New York and listened to me in great detail. He said it sounds like a great idea to me, but I think it would be a better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.
It made some amount of sense to me and he said why don't you think about it for two days before you make a final decision.”
Risks That Paid Dividends
Sharing ideas about starting a company is one thing, but for Bezos to quit his well-paying job and take the risk of doing something on his own could have gone anywhere, but he was keen not to have any regrets.
And he’s glad those risks didn’t cost him his future.
This is the story behind the behemoth that Amazon has become, which has catapulted him to the position of being the world's richest man.
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