When Qiao Ma, Portfolio Manager at Cooper Investors, was an elementary student in China, she and many of the other children in the class were excited about a new handheld gaming device called the Game Boy. Her father, a stock trader, wrote the device off as just a passing fad, convinced that soon the children would forget about the Game Boy.
Ma says she learned three important lessons from this early experience; 1) kids will always move onto smarter, more powerful gaming machines, 2) patterns of behaviour can be connected with stocks (in this case, Nintendo, which is up 500% since), and 3) Game Boys, for her generation, had the same significance as books for her father’s.
In the video below, Ma discusses how technology today is meeting the same basic human needs that were once addressed by sports, art, and even bars and pubs.
Meeting basic human needs
While some may see apps like Instagram as just mindless time wasting, Ma says it’s really meeting a fundamental desire.
“They’re really just a human way of telling stories via pictures. Isn’t this practice as old as time?”
Likewise, video gaming is no longer the domain of kids eating Cheetos in the basement. Elite gamers participate in huge esports events, looking to win outrageous sums of money in stadiums packed with tens of thousands of screaming fans.
Likewise, video gaming is no longer the domain of kids eating Cheetos in the basement. Elite gamers participate in huge esports events, looking to win outrageous sums of money in stadiums packed with tens of thousands of screaming fans.
“The atmosphere in that room is every bit as riveting and electrifying as an AFL game.”
So, if the most successful technology is that which is meeting basic human needs, the question follows; what needs are unmet in our modern society? She shares the example of Momo, an app which allows people to meet strangers nearby for conversations. The usefulness of such an application might not be obvious at first, until you put yourself into the mind of a migrant Chinese worker, with no pubs, churches, or social networks to make new friends.
“The basic yearning to connect is human, so they go online.”
There are many ways to play this hugely profitable thematic, and Ma outlines several of them during the presentation below.
Watch the full presentation
Learn how local Chinese companies are beginning to challenge the multi-nationals, why data is a key advantage, and hear Ma discuss one company that's staying young forever by constantly disrupting itself.
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Peter Brown
Wow! What a great presentation. I was rivetted. I found Qiao offered highly insightful comments. Three things she commented on made a big impact on me. What is there a need for? What needs aren't being met? and Don't forget the human behind the product - why are they there and where might they be in the future? Thank you.