In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Diane Wang, founder, chairperson, and CEO of DHGATE Group, one of the leading B2B cross-border e-commerce platforms in China. Listen in as Wang discusses the DHGATE and MyyShop businesses, as well as her professional background and career (1:00), and her insights on trends in the e-commerce marketplace today (5:20). She details how decentralization will affect entrepreneurs and how MyyShop can empower them (8:35). Furthermore, Wang shares examples of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that have grown through MyyShop's training and digital tools (12:30).
In addition, Wang actively participates in various international associations supporting female entrepreneurs and MSMEs in underdeveloped markets. She shares why this work is important to her and DHGATE Group (15:17). She discusses the opportunities she sees for DHGATE Group and MyyShop in the United States (17:10), as well as entrepreneurship lessons she's learned as a company founder (21:45). Lastly, Wang shares her forecast for the e-commerce industry in 2023 (28:08).
Diane Wang has leveraged over 30 years of business and digital experience to drive DHGATE Group’s mission to empower people through digitalization. The critical focus of the organization is accelerating digital transformation for MSMEs and partners and empowering women and societies through digital inclusion. Currently, the company has actively engaged 2.2 million sellers and 31 million buyers from 222 countries/regions, with access to 32 million products. Before founding DHGATE Group, Diane served as the youngest senior executive at Microsoft China and the only female in a top position at Cisco. In 1999, as a member of the first generation of e-commerce entrepreneurs in China, she established Joyo.com, China’s first B2C trading platform.
Diane was assigned the first rotating president of APEC CBET. Along with DHGATE Group, she has been hosting APEC CBET and MyyShop training programs, which have trained hundreds of thousands of MSMEs, women entrepreneurs, and policymakers across over 50 economies. The project has been recognized and endorsed by the leaders of the UN, APEC, and G20 countries. Also, as the China Representative on APEC Business Advisory Council, Diane initialed the APEC Women Connect program, which aims to empower women, especially the younger generation, to achieve entrepreneurship via digital solutions. As of 2022, the program has engaged more than 100,000 women and over 1200 successful female entrepreneurs with over 100 million media exposures worldwide.