Liu Qing and the Future of DiDi Chuxing.

                 by David Parmer / Tokyo

40 Year old Liu Qing (Jean Liu), President of DiDi Chuxing oversaw the merger of two competing ride-hailing companies to form the present multi-headed DiDi Chuxing. The home-grown ride-hailing firm drove arch-rival Uber out of China after a bloody battle that saw cash burned on both sides like paper money at a Chinese funeral. Uber went, but other Chinese rivals have since risen up to challenge DiDi.

Beginning in 2015, Jean Liu has overseen the growth and development of a company that reportedly has 500 million users in 400 Chinese cities. Ms. Liu is a computer sciences graduate with a B.S. from prestigious Beijing University and an M.S. from Harvard University. She came to what is now DiDi after a 12-year stint at Goldman Sachs.

Several reasons have been given for DiDi’s success, during Jean Liu’s watch. These include:

• Scale of operations
• Efficiency of operations
• Customer base
• Local knowledge
• Long term strategy
• Comprehensive product range

Moreover, growth and innovation tend to be the hallmarks of a successful CEO, and under Ms. Liu DiDi has grown in terms of services and constantly innovated. DiDi secured a US$1 billion investment from Apple Computers, a move that seems well suited to both parties in terms of long-range gains. DiDi has also recently just spun off its top-of-the-line service DiDi Premier to be an independent company. On the domestic side, DiDi has launched DiDi Foodie and entered into the highly competitive Chinese food-delivery business with outlets in Wu Xi (Shanghai) and Nanjing. Internationally, the company has now started ride-hailing operations in Mexico, and most recently, in Melbourne, Australia.

It would be no mistake to suggest that DiDi is just getting started, and that there is lots more to come. Best to keep an eye out for not just DiDi, but also for the name Jean Liu.

Photo: World Economic Forum via flickr