Li Rong is a serial entrepreneur and co-Founder and COO of Jio Technologies, the company behind the successful Jiojiome mobile app. A former derivatives trader, she learnt and dominated the industry that is exceptionally fast-paced, results-driven, highly pressured and dynamic.
Her trading took the backseat when she was pregnant with her second child, and she branched out looking for opportunities in different industries. Soon after, she invested into Jio Technologies’ lifestyle app JiojioMe. She now serves as a Co-Founder and Group COO at Jio Technologies. Her focus is to develop the strategies for growth, handle business operations, manage the people, and streamline the processes.
This mother of two is passionate about imparting financial knowledge, inspirations, values and principles to her children while juggling multiple roles as mother, wife, daughter, leader and female-entrepreneur.
Read more about her story below.
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Sell us your company/service in 300 words?
JiojioMe is a lifestyle app that matches like-minded people based on hobbies and activities via geolocation and gives users the most relevant content based on their interests. Currently, JiojioMe partnered with more than 600 merchants and establishments to give users exclusive promotions and perks at their fingertips and we target to grow to 4,000 partners with 1.5 million users by 2018. The spirit of JiojioMe is embedded in the name itself as “Jio” literally means “to ask or invite someone out” in Hokkien dialect.
Providing a platform where people can connect for the first time and share some esoteric interests in common is our main purpose. It was created because we found difficulty in getting good companionship. Due to the cutting-edge technology we rely on so much today, we start losing track of real relationships and connections. Today, everybody is busy with their family etc and our best friends are few seas and lands away from us. These days, catching up with friends is a “chat message” away. Even though our world is highly connected, people are just spending more time alone. Technology allows us to reach far, but it also isolates us. We neglect to pay attention to what good proximity can offer us. As a result, social interaction declines and it gets harder to meet people in real life, and loneliness rises.
It is much easier finding friends online rather than in person. Plus, the friends we have might not have the same interests as us. Say for instance you’ve got a sudden crave on playing basketball, what do you do? Chances are you would be posting that on your usual social platforms or sending mass messages to your friend, in hope that someone might just respond. With JiojioMe, you can post out the activity and the app will help you find those like-minded people to join you. We saw the potential of bringing the online people, offline. With more offline interactions, this creates a win-win situation for users as well as the merchants and establishments. For users, they get to more social interactions offline, while enjoying a discount through it. For merchants and establishments, they gain more patrons.
JiojioMe is officially launched in Singapore and is expanding to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea.
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What is stopping you from having the largest company in the world?
Being in the social media business, nothing is going to stop us having the largest company in the world except for protectionism. Realistically, there are many challenges ahead while we scale up the business regionally and eventually globally.
We need to continue to be innovative and be relevant in every aspect of life to connect people. If we can achieve that and also overcome the challenges, nothing is impossible.
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If you could change one thing about the tech industry in Southeast Asia, what would it be?
Gender Equality.
Roughly half of the world’s population is female, but you would not know it by looking at the technology sector. Despite the recent strides we have seen in gender equality, there is still a lack of women in prominent roles in the technology sector. I hope to change and encourage more women to take action and take up leadership roles in startups and entrepreneurship because they have the added advantage of being able to balance business acumen and forward thinking with their intuitive feel. To make a change, it is important for women entrepreneurs to be loud, to be noticed and to share their stories of success and failures.
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Name one person in the region, who is making a difference in Technology?
Ma Huateng also known as Pony Ma. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Tencent. Just look at how WeChat has become so relevant to every Chinese in every aspect of life. This has made WeChat so powerful and soon it may be widely use globally.
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What would you want people to remember you for, 100 years from now?
How my product and innovation have changed the world and helped to improve everyone’s lifestyle and habits.
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About Li Rong
Teh Li Rong is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Jio Technologies Limited. She sets strategies for growth and handles the business operations. She has 10 years of experience in the financial markets, management, and leadership for the growth of the companies. She has a Business Management degree from the Singapore Management University. An entrepreneur since graduation, she is passionate about technology, finance, analytics, and women empowerment.
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Views expressed by the interviewee are not necessarily shared by Tech Collective. Some minimal editing is done for clarity’s sake.
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