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<ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Vietnamese billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong has gotten a lot richer over the past month.</strong></li><li><strong>VinFast Auto stock has skyrocketed since its public debut, and Vuong owns 99% of the company.</strong></li></ul><p>The <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/vinfast-stock-vfs-market-cap-ev-spac-pham-nhat-vuong-2023-8">rollercoaster ride in VinFast Auto stock</a> has put a spotlight on the electric vehicle maker's founder and chairman, Pham Nhat Vuong.</p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/vfs-stock">VinFast</a> went public via a SPAC IPO earlier this month, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/vinfast-stock-vfs-market-cap-ev-spac-pham-nhat-vuong-2023-8">its stock price swiftly soared 830%</a> from $10 per share to a record high of $93.</p><p>Despite selling only 24,000 vehicles last year, VinFast was worth nearly $200 billion at its peak on Monday, briefly making it the world's third largest automaker as measured by market valuation.</p><p>And because Vuong, 55, owns a whopping 99% of the Vietnam-based electric vehicle maker, his fortune has soared, on paper at least. Since its peak, shares of VinFast are down 70%, giving the company a $62 billion market valuation.</p><p>Even with the sharp decline in VinFast stock, that still gives Vuong a total net worth of more than $60 billion. He was already a billionaire before VinFast went public, with various estimates of his net worth <a href="https://vinfutureprize.org/founders-and-messages/#:~:text=Pham%20Nhat%20Vuong%20launched%20his,instant%20noodles%20called%20%E2%80%9CMivina%E2%80%9D." target="_blank" rel="noopener">between $4 billion and $7 billion.</a></p><p>Before becoming an EV mogul, Vuong started with food.</p><h3>Selling noodles in Ukraine</h3><p>He graduated from the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute in Russia in 1993. Sensing opportunity in the post-Soviet Union world, Vuong moved to Kharkiv, Ukraine, borrowed $10,000 from friends and family, and opened up a Vietnamese restaurant.</p><p>While the restaurant floundered, he found near instant success in making and selling instant noodles, which were a new concept in Ukraine and proved to be incredibly popular from the start.</p><p>"Ukrainians were very poor, and very hungry," Vuong said <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelnoer/2013/03/04/vietnams-first-billionaire-and-the-triumph-of-capitalism/?sh=16a664c01fc1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in an interview with Forbes</a> in 2013. </p><p>He then ditched his restaurant and instead focused on building up his noodle business. He founded Technocom, expanded his dried foods production, and sold instant noodles in Ukraine under the Mivina brand name. </p><p>By the time Vuong sold Technocom to Nestle in 2010 for $150 million, the company had reached annual revenues of more than $100 million.</p><h3>Vuong sees opportunity in Vietnam</h3><p>After striking success in Ukraine, he set his eyes on his home country. Vuong noticed that Vietnam was undergoing a similar shift to Ukraine, as its economy transitioned from a state-run system to a more markets-based economy in the late 1990s.</p><p>He started to funnel his profits from his Ukrainian noodle business into real estate development projects in Vietnam.</p><p>And he hit the jackpot.</p><p>Vuong's first real estate venture was an undeveloped island just off the coast of Vietnam. There, he helped develop the luxury Vinpearl Resort that initially had 225 rooms. Vuong eventually added another 260 rooms to Vinpearl, along with a two-mile cable car that connected the island to the mainland. Business boomed and the island has since become a hot spot for luxury resorts, and Vuong got in on the ground floor.</p><p>He further diversified his real estate holdings by developing office towers, luxury townships, and shopping malls in Hanoi. Vuong has since consolidated most of his assets into the company Vingroup, which is a conglomerate that has exposure to the healthcare, entertainment, and technology industries, among others.</p><p>In 2013, Vuong became Vietnam's first billionaire, according to Forbes. Vingroup generated $5.4 billion in revenue and $83 million in profits in 2022.</p><h3>Vuong's VinFast ambitions</h3><p>With Vuong's fortune built, he is now focusing his efforts on owning a slice of the electric mobility market with VinFast. The company manufactures and sells electric scooters and cars, and it has an ambitious goal to break into the US market.</p><p>VinFast recently broke ground on a $4 billion manufacturing plant in North Carolina, and Vuong has pledged his resources to making the company a success. </p><p>"Our ultimate goal is to create an international brand," he told Bloomberg in 2019. Vuong vowed in April to provide Vinfast with $2.5 billion in capital to help fuel its growth. </p><p>"Whatever VinFast needs, Vingroup always supports," VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy <a href="https://archive.ph/20230901141221/https://www.ft.com/content/714a6beb-9815-4efe-b7b4-5c5921e96879" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the Financial Times</a> before it went public.</p><p>But the company has a lot of work to do. VinFast expects to sell about 50,000 electric vehicles in America this year, but <a href="https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2023-vinfast-vf8-electric-suv-first-drive-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the early reviews of their first US models were not great.</a> Meanwhile, VinFast is still unprofitable after six years in business</p><p>Still, Vuong is determined. </p><p>"It will be a very difficult road, and we will have to put in a lot of effort. But there's only one road ahead," he <a href="https://archive.ph/20230901141221/https://www.ft.com/content/714a6beb-9815-4efe-b7b4-5c5921e96879" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in 2019.</a></p>

From Ukrainian noodles to electric cars. Here's how VinFast founder Pham Nhat Vuong built a more than $60 billion fortune

<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany</span></p><p class="caption">A man uses a mobile phone while riding a camel through a&#xa0;traffic&#xa0;jam in downtown&#xa0;Cairo.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><span>Thanks to a massive population of 23 million, snarled traffic, and poor public <keyword id="34991" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="transportation">transportation</keyword>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/cairo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cairo</a> has become a test bed for transportation startups.</span></li><li><span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/uber" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uber</a> and U.A.E.-based <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/careem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Careem</a> each launched bus services aimed at serving Cairo's low-income population in December. But they are competing with local bus startups Swvl and Buseet, as well as other transportation startups serving other niches.</span></li><li><span>An Uber exec told Business Insider the Middle East's expanding young population makes it an ideal place to invest after Uber pulled back in several markets in 2017 and 2018.</span></li><li><span>The founders of Swvl and Egyptian autorickshaw-hailing app Halan said they think the transportation needs in emerging markets are so great that no single provider will be able to dominate the market.</span></li><li><span> But Uber is testing out multiple transportation modes in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa in its quest to get to one billion riders before its I.P.O. later this year.</span></li></ul><p> </p><p><span>Spend any length of time in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/cairo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cairo</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/egypt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Egypt</a> and what sticks out immediately is the traffic. </span><span>Every highway, road, and alleyway is clogged with cars and motorbikes spewing fumes into the air. Crossing a road is akin to beating the final level of Frogger: six crammed lanes with zero traffic lights or crosswalks and constant honking.</span></p><p><span>There are many options for navigating the city of 23 million people - considered the most populated in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/africa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Africa</a> - but few are attractive. </span></p><p><span>With a whopping <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/60054">4 million daily riders</a> on its three lines, the Cairo Metro is <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/TWB-Executive-Note-Eng.pdf">half the size of the Washington D.C. Metro and carries four times</a> as many passengers per half-mile of track. The public bus system is similarly outmatched. Among the world's major cities, Cairo has one of the <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/TWB-Executive-Note-Eng.pdf">lowest numbers of buses per million residents</a>.</span></p><p><span>The most used, and most important, part of Cairo's transit system is the microbuses, a network of semiformal private vans that are ubiquitous on the streets of Cairo (and most African cities). While dirt cheap and with lines all over the city, microbuses are known for driving at dangerous speeds, packing in as many passengers as they can, and ignoring traffic laws. Road injuries <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/egypt/">are a leading cause</a> of death in the country. A study by the World Bank <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/08/21/cairo-traffic-much-more-than-nuisance">found that traffic costs the country $8 billion per year</a>, or 4% of its GDP.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh</span></p><p class="caption">Motorists stuck in a&#xa0;traffic&#xa0;jam on a street towards downtown of&#xa0;Cairo, Egypt.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>It would not be uncommon for an Egyptian to spend hours navigating several trains, multiple buses, and a taxi in a single commute each day.</span></p><p><span>Though the Egyptian government <a href="http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/2/56664/Millions-of-euros-allocated-to-improve-Cairo-Metro-network">announced it would invest over $100 million</a> to improve and expand the metro in the coming years, young Egyptians aren't waiting for the government to fix the problem. </span></p><h2><span>Transportation is a 'mega opportunity' in Egypt and other emerging markets</span></h2><h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/goinganniewhere/">Annie Zheng/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">A scene at the Rise Up Summit in Cairo, a premier tech and innovation conference in the Middle East.</p></div><p></p></div></div></h2><p><span>As I walked around the </span>Rise-Up Summit, a <a href="https://riseupsummit.com/">premier tech conference</a> held in Cairo in December, transportation seemed to be on everyone's mind. Among the booths of hopeful entrepreneurs and established regional tech stars was an assortment of Egyptian transportation startups, each serving a different niche.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cairo-egypt-culture-food-pyramids-of-giza-2019-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Travel guides will tell you to skip Cairo, but the Egyptian capital is a fascinating city bursting with amazing food and culture</a></em></p><p>Swvl and <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/buseet#section-overview">Buseet </a>each<span> offer private buses traveling along fixed routes reserved and paid for using their apps. Fyonka is a ride-hailing service hoping to win on safety and harassment issues by <a href="https://egyptianstreets.com/2018/12/11/fyonka-all-female-ride-hailing-service-seeks-empowering-egyptian-women/">connecting only female drivers with female passengers</a>. Meanwhile, Halan is a low-cost, ride-hailing service that only features motorcycles and tuk-tuks, or that autorickshaws that are popular throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/goinganniewhere/">Annie Zheng/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Fyonka co-founders Mostafa El Kholy (L) and Abdullah Hussein at the RiseUp Summit in December.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>When I asked Fadi Antaki, a veteran Egyptian entrepreneur and the CEO of A15, <a href="http://www.a15.com/en-us/">a leading Egyptian tech investment fund</a>, why the scene is saturated with transportation startups, he looked bewildered and motioned to the traffic honking outside the Greek Campus where RiseUp was being held.</span></p><p>"A lot of people have long commutes and the existing public transportation isn't working," he said. "The public buses are always jammed and packed. Cars are twice the price here that they are in the US and parking is a nightmare. And the minibuses are packed, dirty, and unsafe."</p><p><span>As RiseUp's founder </span><span>Abdelhameed Sharara told me the following day, there's an added kicker. Egyptian entrepreneurs understand that the government is not capable of fixing the city's transportation problems.</span></p><p><span>"</span>There is a mega opportunity there and technology can really enable [the solutions]," he said.</p><h2>Tech giants Uber and Careem are in a dogfight for the Middle East</h2><h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/goinganniewhere/">Annie Zheng/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">An Uber Bus activation at the RiseUp Summit in December.</p></div><p></p></div></div></h2><p>Egyptians aren't the only ones to have noticed the opportunity. <span>Tech giants Uber and U.A.E.-based Careem, which operates in 84 cities across twelve Middle Eastern countries, are locked in their own battle for dominance over Egypt's massive transportation needs.</span></p><p><span>In December, Uber and Careem <a href="https://www.menabytes.com/uber-bus-egypt-cairo/">launched competing</a> <a href="https://www.menabytes.com/careem-bus-cairo/">bus services </a>in the city, firsts for both companies. Like Buseet and Swvl, both are focused on using tech to remake the ubiquitous microbus sector. Uber Manager of Matching Science Eoin O'Mahony <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6478077243313790976/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote on LinkedIn</a> that it could "unlock a new global business for Uber, serving the $100B, 100 billion annual rides ultra-low-cost transit market for high capacity vehicles."</span></p><p><span> Like microbuses, Uber Bus and Careem Bus fit around a dozen passengers each with prices aimed at a working-class population that can't afford daily private rides. </span></p><p><span>Uber has said prices will be <a href="https://www.menabytes.com/uber-bus-egypt-cairo/">80% cheaper than a standard Uber</a>, while Careem has said its service <a href="https://www.menabytes.com/careem-bus-cairo/">will be 60-70% cheaper</a> than a standard Careem. Rather than sign existing microbuses onto the service - most of which are old and in disrepair - both services advertise safe, new, branded, and air-conditioned buses.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Retuers</span></p><p class="caption">A typical Uber Bus at the launch for Uber Bus in December.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The launch represented a retrenchment in the Middle East for Uber after years of backing out of international markets like China, Russia, and Southeast Asia, where Uber has partnered with or sold its business to local rivals like Didi, Yandex, and Grab respectively.</span></p><p><span>Earlier this month, Anthony le Roux, Uber's chief executive for the Middle East and Africa, told the Wall Street Journal that his region would "<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-turns-to-middle-easts-tech-savvy-youth-in-quest-for-1-billion-users-11549449001">play a massive role</a>" in helping Uber reach its goal of a billion users before its initial public offering later this year. </span></p><p><span>That sentiment was echoed by Tino Waked, Uber's general manager for the Middle East and North Africa. In an interview with Business Insider, Waked pointed to the Middle East's rapidly expanding young population, limited transportation infrastructure, and large demand for low-cost transportation solutions as reasons the company sees the region as an ideal place to invest and test new services.</span></p><p><span>In the battle for dominance over Egypt and the Middle East, Uber and Careem have made localizations to cater their product to the market. Both companies allow cash payment and <a href="https://gulfbusiness.com/uber-eyes-cheaper-uae-rides-emirati-drivers-get-behind-wheel/">offer low-cost rides</a> <a href="https://ww.egyptindependent.com/egyptians-concerned-about-safety-as-careem-introduces-new-scooter-service/">on scooters</a>, tuk-tuks, and motorcycles. In order to deepen its smartphone penetration in Egypt, Uber will <a href="https://gulfnews.com/business/uber-to-introduce-new-lightweight-app-for-middle-east-1.61728950">soon launch a version of its app</a> requiring less data, after launching a similar app in other Middle Eastern countries last year. </span></p><p><span>Uber has reportedly engaged in talks to purchase Careem, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported that some bankers see the sale as inevitable given how much more cash Uber has to burn in its duel with Careem.</span></p><h2>Solving Egypt's transportation problems could help solve issues for other countries in emerging markets</h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/harrisonxjacobs">Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">Traffic in Cairo is nightmarish.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The battle to win Egypt is likely about more than just winning a lucrative market: It's also about unlocking access to other countries suffering similar transportation woes. </span></p><p>"There is tremendous opportunity in Egypt. This is a country of 100 million people and there's a sense that solutions that work here will work in other parts of the world with similar obstacles," Antaki told me.</p><p><span>While the two whales duke it out, the other Egyptian transportation startups are hoping they can outmaneuver both with a better understanding of the needs in a developing market. </span></p><p><span>Last year, bus startup Swvl raised an <a href="https://digestafrica.com/egypt-swvl-expanding-kenya-nairobi/">approximate $38 million</a>, putting its valuation close to $100 million, and in January it <a href="https://digestafrica.com/egypt-swvl-expanding-kenya-nairobi/#.XHYFzpNKhQI">launched a pilot program in Nairobi, Kenya</a>, another city notorious for its snarled traffic and anything-goes microbuses. Swvl has plans to launch in several Southeast Asian cities in the coming months.</span></p><p><span>Meanwhile, Halan, the startup focused on tuk-tuks and motorcycles, raised <a href="https://digestafrica.com/egypt-halan-funding-algebra-ventures/#.XHYGAJNKhQJ">$4.3 million in Series A funding</a> in December, opened up a second market in Sudan, and added Uber founder Oscar Salazar to its board. In the announcement, Salazar <a href="https://www.menabytes.com/oscar-salazar-halan/">cited Halan's desire</a> to bring transportation </span><span>to "the remaining 6 billion" people not being served by major ride-hailing companies.</span><span> </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/goinganniewhere/">Annie Zheng/Business Insider</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>When I asked Swvl founder </span><span>Mostafa Kandil </span><span>how the company could compete with Uber and Careem, he suggested that the transportation needs are so dire in Cairo and other similar markets that, unlike cities in the US, one or two transportation companies cannot serve all the demand. </span></p><p><span>"You see the same problem across emerging markets, whether it's Manila, Nairobi or Jakarta. One single player is not enough to build the network," Kandil told Business Insider. "We like to see ourselves as building a profitable mass transit system from scratch in emerging markets and taking it off governments' hands."</span></p><p><span>Rather than crowd out smaller players like Swvl, Uber Bus has expanded demand in Cairo, according to Kandil, who said that Swvl signups have quadrupled since the launch of Uber Bus.</span></p><p><span>For now, Halan founder </span><span>Mounir Nakhla believes concerns about competition from Uber or Careem is overblown, saying it's like comparing a plane to a taxi. Whereas Uber or Careem is typically used by wealthier consumers for mid-length rides and Swvl and other bus serves are for long commutes, Nakhla said, Halan is focused on short rides of around a mile or less, areas not typically served by Uber or Careem, and low-income passengers. </span></p><p><span>"When you live in a country like Egypt, where there are so many needs and pain points, it means there are a lot of opportunities," Nakhla told Business Insider.</span></p><p><span>Nakhla has deep experience both with tuk-tuks and Egypt's low-income population, having <a href="https://www.dpi-llp.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/MNT-Final-Press-Release-1.pdf">co-founded Egypt's largest financing business for utility vehicles like tuk-tuks</a> in 2009 and a micro-finance business in 2015. </span></p><p><span>Both Kandil and Nakhla suggested their more clear-cut focus on the low-cost market and their first-hand knowledge of emerging markets will help give them a leg up when they do eventually come head-to-head with the tech giants. </span></p><p><span>That day may be coming sooner than later. As Waked, Uber's general manager for the Middle East and North Africa, told Business Insider, Uber's goal, particularly in the Middle East is to "become a one-stop shop </span>for all your transportation and delivery needs." Every transportation modality - from bikes to scooters to buses - is part of that.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li><strong>More about visiting Egypt from Business Insider's international correspondent:</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-tourism-industry-leaves-tourists-frustrated-2018-12" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I'm convinced Egypt could be the world's greatest tourist destination if it weren't for a troubling pattern</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egyptair-boeing-777-economy-class-flight-review-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">A flight on EgyptAir showed me even the most basic flag carrier can be better than American airlines</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egypt-pyramids-of-giza-look-like-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Staying in the shadow of Egypt's iconic pyramids is more surreal than any photos can show</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/overnight-sleeper-first-class-train-egypt-2019-1" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I took a 12-hour overnight first-class sleeper train through the heart of Egypt, and it's an experience I won't forget anytime soon</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cairo-most-polluted-city-in-the-world-americans-air-pollution-2018-11" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">I visited what's possibly the world's most polluted city, and realized Americans have no idea how good they have it</a></li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-not-paying-taxes-trump-bezos-2018-4">Amazon will pay $0 in federal taxes this year - here's how the $793 billion company gets away with it</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Uber is locked in a battle to fix Egypt's $8 billion traffic problem, and its success could decide which tech giant will dominate the Middle East and Africa

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>Alexandre Mars is a serial entrepreneur&#xa0;who has been dubbed the "French Bill Gates."</strong></li><li><strong>Since he started his first company at the age of 17, he says his goal has been to create a movement around charitable giving.</strong></li><li><strong>Mars&#xa0;now runs Epic Foundation, a non-profit that aims to ensure 100% of philanthropists' money reaches their charity of choice. Now it wants to encourage businesses to donate 1% of their profits to charity and launch a new platform to encourage non-wealthy donors to give to good causes.&#xa0;</strong></li></ul><p>Ever since he was a teenager, Alexandre Mars has always wanted to create something for&#xa0;social good. The French serial entrepreneur turned philanthropist said he always pictured his life as a quest to fulfill that goal.</p><p>"You know you will have to battle hard and fight. But you will be successful. That's epic for me," the serial entrepreneur Alexandre Mars told Business Insider.</p><p>Mars is the founder of <a href="https://epic.foundation/en">Epic Foundation</a>, a non-profit aiming to improve charitable giving by ensuring that 100% of a donation actually reaches the people it is meant to reach.</p><p>Until now, it has targeted only wealthy people and companies. But in&#xa0;March, the foundation will launch a new platform called Epic Generation, to enable anybody to donate even small amounts to charity.</p><p>Mars fronts all the operational costs for Epic. The foundation was started in 2014 and now has 25 employees across five global offices.</p><h2>Mars wants to create a global movement of social good</h2><p>41-year-old Mars, made much of his wealth as a serial entrepreneur, creating over five online and mobile marketing companies. One of those he sold to Publicis Groupe and another to Blackberry.</p><p>His goal has always been to create a social good company, something he kept in mind when he was creating and selling companies. This led to French media referring to him as the country's Bill Gates, but Mars says he isn't as wealthy - although he doesn't disclose his net worth - and has always wanted to create a way to empower everybody to give to charity.</p><p>With the new platform, Mars wants to reach a younger millennial audience that he believes is one of the most socially engaged generations to have existed.</p><p>"We want to democratize giving. Maybe you don't have 50 grand for me, but you want to give 25 bucks," he said.</p><p>Epic goes through a careful process to select NGOs and social enterprises, all focusing on helping young people from the age of zero to 25-years-old, that will make up the shortlist from which donors can choose. Last year, 1,900 organizations applied to be a part of the foundation. Of those, Mars and his team selected only 10. At the time of the interview, he was in the middle of the selection for the 2017 batch.</p><p>"We behave like a venture capitalist. We have 45 data points to help us decide which organizations we'll select and we spend seven months vetting every social organization presented to us," he explained.</p><p>Epic doesn't disclose its donor sheet, but, according <a href="https://www.fastcoexist.com/3060542/future-of-philanthropy/appifying-philanthropy-so-you-can-check-the-impact-of-your-donation-o">Fast Company</a>, it includes executives from tech companies Vice, Facebook, and Giphy, as well as firms like L'Oreal and the supermarket chain Carrefour.</p><p>As a larger share of younger people come into the workforce, Mars explained it's also important not just for the wealthy to give to social causes but for companies to participate in the movement.</p><p>"An organization can become the new Nokia or Kodak, not because they didn't see the wave of technology coming, but because they didn't see the wave of social disruption coming," he said.</p><p>Companies that are part of the Epic Foundation pledge 1% of their profits to social causes.</p><h2>"The French Bill Gates"</h2><p>Originally from the south of France, Mars grew up living in the United States and his home country. He attributes much of his success to his parents and multicultural background. Mars' father was a consultant and entrepreneur, something Mars said drove him to start over five companies. His mom, a former airline stewardess, was the one who instilled in him a social consciousness, Mars&#xa0;said. It's something he wants to pass on to his own children.</p><p>When Mars spoke to Business Insider in New York - his adopted home - the city was experiencing a blizzard, and he was returning from a homeless shelter with his kids.</p><p>In his home country of France, Mars was given the label of the "French Bill Gates" <a href="http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2015/09/29/alexandre-mars-le-petit-bill-gates-francais_4776631_3234.html">by Le Monde</a>. Unlike the American one, Mars said he doesn't have the power to change laws in developing countries. His goal is to change the mindset of people and drive more social good.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Mars said he always knew he wanted to create something that would have a social impact: "When I was 20, I was sure that it would take me three years to become the next Bill Gates. It would be easy and fast."</p><p>He laughed at his own naivety: "As we all know, it's super hard to be successful. You work really hard, it takes amazing team and cunningness to get there."</p><p>It took him 21 years, somewhat longer than the three years he had envisioned.</p><p>Mars started his first company, a concert promotions agency, at the age of 17, after his parents had returned to France. Four years later,&#xa0;he started one of the first online marketing agencies in France, called A2X, while simultaneously launching his own venture capital firm, Mars Capital, in the United States.</p><p>"It was very hard at the beginning, I was 20 with a ponytail and a beard trying to explain to the decision makers that the internet will be the next big thing," he said.</p><p>His fourth startup would turn out to be the one to really put Mars on the map. He founded&#xa0;Phonevalley, which he built into the largest mobile marketing agency in Europe before <a href="http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/736268/publicis-acquires-mobile-marketing-firm">selling it to the French advertising group Publicis</a>, where it became the agency's mobile marketing division with him at the head.</p><p>In 2013, after his earnout finished,<a href="http://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/alexandre-mars-out-at-publicis/56090"> Mars left the holding company</a>, and turned his focus to another startup he had started in parallel to Phonevalley. Called ScrOOn, it was a social media marketing service that allowed brands to manage their social media, at a time when social networks were still emerging.</p><p>"I'm bad at many, many things but what I'm good at is seeing the wave coming and being able to interpret that wave," Mars said. He sold <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-11-21/blackberry-reveals-acquisition-before-attempt-to-sell">ScrOOn to Blackberry in 2013</a> for an undisclosed amount.</p><p>After selling two of his companies, Mars decided to take a step away from tech startups.</p><p>For him, starting and selling companies was always a&#xa0;means to an end, with the goal to create something philanthropic.</p><p>"I had the skills from being an entrepreneur, I had the network from traveling the world to meet people, and now I finally had the money," Mars said.</p><h2>Combining entrepreneurship and philanthropy</h2><p>Mars&#xa0;and his wife then took their children out of school for a year and traveled the world, on what he called a "market research" journey. They visited both social organizations and met with donors to find the best approach.</p><p>Mars found people held back from giving to charities because of a lack of trust in them, an inability to track what happened with a donation, and donors' lack of knowledge when it came to choosing the right organization. With Epic Foundation, Mars set out to right that. The foundation puts a number of apps and tools at the disposal of donors through which they choose the charity they want to give to and track what's happening with their money.</p><p>For Mars, this allows him to do everything he would do as an entrepreneur.</p><p>"I still work a lot, even more than I used to," he said.</p><p>Alongside Epic Foundation he runs <a href="http://blisce.com/">his family office, called blisce/</a>, through which he has invested in a number of large tech companies, including Spotify, Pinterest, and Alibaba prior to its IPO. He was also <a href="http://www.paris2024.org/medias/presse/paris_2024_unveils_sport_and_society_committee.pdf">named the chair of the committee for the 2024 Paris Olympics bid</a>, which he said, in an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/alexandre-mars/partageons-paris-2024-avec-le-monde-et-faisons-gagner-la-france/">editorial for the Huffington Post France</a>, was the first Olympic Games candidacy placing social issues at its heart.</p><p>Creating more social good is fundamentally at the core of everything he does. 85% of his time is dedicated to Epic Foundation.</p><p>"We're in this new era where purpose is everywhere. We're building a social good movement, it's why we didn't want to have a business model attached to it," Mars said.</p><p>"Epic is a startup, the goal for the future is to keep building new tools and open new offices, the only difference is we change lives and we don't make money."</p><div>    </div><div>    </div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/budweiser-super-bowl-commercial-anheuser-busch-statement-immigrants-2017-1">Watch Budweiser's Super Bowl ad - it makes a strong statement on immigration</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="84cjViOTE66uf5D6w7RMRpuK04n2M-1G" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

 After making a fortune in tech startups, French entrepreneur Alexander Mars is using his wealth to transform philanthropy 

<p><em>Welcome to our new Payments Insights newsletter, a morning email with the top news and analysis on the digital payments industry, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=PINSIGHTSutm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a>. </em></p>
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<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:399px"><div class="image"><a title_source="PayPal" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52d439f26bb3f7f67b66520e-960/portapaypal-1.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>PayPal</span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong>THE FUTURE OF PAYPAL PAYMENTS FROM THE NRF'S "BIG </strong><strong style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">SHOW." </strong>The National Retail Federation is holding its annual trade show this week and PayPal is there showcasing its plans for payments in 2014. </p>
<p>Here is a quick rundown of what's in store: </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Seamless checkout</strong>: similar to Amazon's new third-party merchant "Log-in and Pay with Amazon" feature, PayPal is building a system for merchants that will allow consumers to pay for goods without leaving the retailer's site and without having to create a new account. </li>
<li><strong>Beacons</strong>: <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/beacons-revolutionary-mobile-technology-2013-12" target="_blank">As we detailed in a recent report</a>, Bluetooth LE beacons have huge implications for mobile payments and mobile commerce alike. PayPal has already begun testing its beacon technology in retail stores in the U.S. and Australia.  The beacons can be used to accept hands-free smartphone payments, which can save customers time otherwise spent in checkout lines. </li>
<li><strong>Payment Code expands</strong>: PayPal's "Payment Code" allows users to pay with PayPal for goods at bricks-and-mortar points of sales by scanning QR codes or entering a code on their phones if a point of sale isn't available. The company says that it will expand this service beginning in February to merchants that use Discover and retail point-of-sale company MICROS.  (<a href="https://www.paypal-forward.com/commerce/nrf-2014-a-new-online-checkout-experience-payment-code-is-rolling-and-paypal-beacon-update/" target="_blank">PayPal</a>) </li>
</ul>
<p>While the company is all in on bricks-and-mortar mobile payments, it's not too hot on NFC. "Instead of swiping or using a PIN pad, they're tapping. How is that really better? How is that changing your life? People don't want that," said PayPal's President David Marcus in a recent interview. (<a href="https://www.paypal-forward.com/commerce/nrf-2014-a-new-online-checkout-experience-payment-code-is-rolling-and-paypal-beacon-update/" target="_blank">PayPal</a>)  </p>
<p><strong>PAYMENTS PREDICTIONS FOR 2014. </strong>If the future of PayPal leaves you wanting to know more about the future of payments, you can check out BI Intelligence's top 10 predictions for 2014 <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-big-digital-payments-trends-in-2014-2014-1" target="_blank">here</a>. (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-big-digital-payments-trends-in-2014-2014-1" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>) </p>
<p><strong>A NEW PRIVATE SHARE OFFERING PUTS SQUARE AT $5 BILLION</strong>. The valuation is based off a private tender offer of $1 million shares at $135.28, according to Payment's Source's anonymous sources. To give an idea of growth, Square was valued at $3.25 billion in August 2012. Square's workforce is growing quickly as well, from 400 employees at the beginning of 2014 to 700 employees in just over a year. The company also announced that it was processing $15 billion in payments annually in May 2013, not including payments made at Starbucks. We wouldn't be surprised if Square announces an IPO later this year. (<a href="http://www.paymentssource.com/news/square-said-to-hold-secondary-offering-at-5-billion-valuation-3016591-1.html" target="_blank">Payment Source</a>)</p>
<p><strong>MICROSOFT AND VANTIV TEAM UP TO TAKE PAYMENTS MOBILE. </strong>Payment processor Vantiv is partnering with Microsoft to offer new payments solutions across payment channels, including mobile points of sale, according to a press release form the company. Microsoft's role in the deal will be to provide cloud-connected payments information, allowing merchants to gain new insights about their customers. As payments continue to blur the line between bricks-and-mortar commerce and e-commerce we expect to see more partnerships of this nature. (<a href="http://investors.vantiv.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=250843&amp;p=irol-newsArticle&amp;ID=1890128&amp;highlight=" target="_blank">Vantiv</a>)</p>
<p><strong>CANADA IS TESTING A GOVERNMENT-BACKED DIGITAL CURRENCY. </strong>This week, the Royal Canadian Mint will announce further details on MintChip, a digital currency similar to Bitcoin, first announced in 2012. Unlike Bitcoin, MintChip transactions are limited in the amount of value that can be transferred. This makes it a potential replacement for petty cash and change. At the same time, it limits the digital currency's potential for large-scale nefarious uses like money laundering. (<a href="http://www.thestar.com/business/economy/2014/01/10/royal_mint_set_to_demo_digital_currency.html" target="_blank">Toronto Star</a>) </p>
<p><strong>WELCOME TO PAYMENTS INSIGHTS</strong><span>. We hope you are enjoying this newsletter. Don't forget to </span><a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/biipaymentsform" target="_blank">sign up</a> and get it every morning in your inbox. Please email <a href="mailto:johnh@businessinsider.com">johnh@businessinsider.com</a> or BI Intelligence director <a href="mailto:mballve@businessinsider.com" target="_blank">mballve@businessinsider.com</a> with news and tips.</p>
<p><strong>RETAIL BANKS NEED A UBIQUITOUS SOLUTION FOR PEER-TO-PEER PAYMENTS. </strong>There are quite a few peer-to-peer payments apps out there, many of which are from non-banking third parties, like Google Wallet and Square Cash. But many consumers prefer to use their own banks for peer-to-peer payments. The problem? Money transfer apps from  banks are not capable of transferring money to <em>all</em> of the large retail banks. This makes sending money to a friend or family member that uses a different bank frustrating or impossible. A way to resolve this problem is for retail banks to partner with one another to provide a catch-all solution (<a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/bank-payments-should-be-a-whole-lot-easier-1064832-1.html" target="_blank">American Banker</a>) </p>
<p><strong>TARGET WASN'T THE ONLY COMPANY TO SUFFER A DATA BREACH OVER THE HOLIDAYS.</strong> Hackers may have practiced their techniques on three smaller retailers before hitting Target over the holidays, according to a report from Reuters. Dallas-based luxury retail store Neiman Marcus also admitted to suffering a data breach after the company's payment processor found evidence of unsolicited transactions. The extent of the breach is not yet clear. (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/12/us-target-databreach-retailers-idUSBREA0B01720140112" target="_blank">Reuters</a>)</p>
<p><strong>TOP DEMOCRATS ARE CALLING FOR AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE TARGET BREACH.</strong> In a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, 17 House Democrats requested a hearing to investigate the breach that may have affected up to 110 million consumers. The hearing could lead to legislation that would govern when and what information must be disclosed to consumers in the event of a breach. (<a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_9/top-house-democrats-call-for-investigative-hearing-on-target-breach-1064884-1.html" target="_blank">American Banker</a>)</p>
<p><strong>BITCOIN UTOPIANS DOUBTED.</strong> Bitcoin is not going to save the unbanked, argues Bloomberg's Brendan Greeley. Globally, there are about 2.5 billion people who don't have bank accounts, and this makes it difficult for these people to save money and build credit histories. Proponents of Bitcoin have argued that the digital currency could solve this problem because all you need to get a Bitcoin wallet - which can serve as a bank account - is an Internet connection. Nonetheless, Greeley argues that there are many barriers that would prevent the unbanked from using Bitcoin or any digital currency for that matter - aversion to new technology, illiteracy, and disinterest to name a few. We too think the more optimistic expectations for Bitcoin are a bit overblown. Still, variations on digital currency have taken off in countries with high populations of the unbanked. For example, in Kenya over 15 million people use M-Pesa, a virtual currency developed by Vodafone.  (<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-10/lessons-from-mobile-payments-bitcoin-will-not-help-the-poor-or-unbanked" target="_blank">Bloomberg Businessweek</a>)  </p>
<p><em><strong>Here's what else BI Intelligence subscribers are reading...</strong></em></p>
<p class="headline"><strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/beacons-revolutionary-mobile-technology-2013-12">BEACONS: The Technology That Could Transform How People Use Their Phones In Stores, Events, And Their Homes</a></strong></p>
<p class="headline"><strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/people-in-emerging-markets-trust-virtual-currency-2014-1">People In Emerging Markets Trust Virtual Currency</a></strong></p>
<p class="headline"><strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/customer-service-related-messages-2014-1">Brands Receive More Customer Service-Related Messages On Twitter Than On Facebook</a></strong></p>
<p class="headline"><strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/it-was-a-rough-year-for-pc-shipments-2014-1">It Was A Very Rough Year For PC Shipments In 2013</a></strong></p>
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