Keynote SpeakersJames Hardy is an authority on retail globalisation, e-commerce and online growth strategies.
He works with brands to future-proof their online expansion across diverse trading platforms, from Amazon and Alibaba to boutique marketplaces and own-brand sites.
Currently Head of Global Retail and Market Development at Flutterwave, Africa’s largest Fintech, James previously served as Head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa for Alibaba.
Furthermore, he co-founded the UK’s largest China e-commerce exporter – an award-winning, high-growth platform that helped brands throughout Europe build market share in mainland China.
James has worked on international e-commerce strategies for multiple public and private companies, identifying how brands can maximise their value to external, private, and public markets.
He explores what the largest global conglomerates can learn from startup methodology and what smaller companies can learn about scaling their business from brands such as Alibaba.
James is a regular contributor to the press and media, appearing in The Financial Times, The Huffington Post, The Journal du Net and on the BBC and China Daily News.
James Hardy – Retail Speaker
As the former Head of EMEA at Alibaba, James Hardy speaks about Alibaba’s business model, Amazon, ecosystems, and what the West can learn from the East and business strategy.
In the West, companies ask themselves how they can own a specific category or sector and think from a “profit first” view. In China, the most prominent companies ask what big business problems need solving and how they can solve them.
Taking an ecosystem approach, they ask how they can facilitate all the different pieces of any business environment, and how they can draw in many third parties to share in this ecosystem and ultimately to share in the rewards.
James uses his Alibaba experience to educate audiences on an alternative future for business. He illustrates how Alibaba’s unique approach has allowed it to completely disrupt areas as diverse as e-commerce, traditional payments, cloud computing, and small business loans and challenge established businesses in areas such as offline retail and logistics.
He contrasts this approach with Amazon’s and shows the lessons to be learned from their similarities, but more importantly, their differences.
James explains the environments that lead businesses to build innovative cultures and how these environments can be created in any industry. He also discusses the benefits of building an ecosystem-driven network of companies around your core capabilities.
