Social Impact Leaders — Interview w/ Andy Tian of Asia Innovations Group
Andy Tian is the Chief Executive Officer of Asia Innovations Group (‘AIG’), which he co-founded in 2013. A successful serial entrepreneur, Andy started his tech career in Silicon Valley. He co-founded one of the world’s earliest social app companies in 2008, which he sold to Zynga in 2010 and it became Zynga China. Andy subsequently served as General Manager and led Zynga China’s expansion. He was also an early member of Google in China, where he established the company’s mobile business and introduced the Android operating system to China in 2006. Prior to joining Google, Andy worked for BCG, where he specialized in strategy consulting for Chinese mobile carriers and banks. Andy holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science from MIT. He was born in Sichuan, China, and moved to New York at the age of 10.
Social Impact — What meaning do you personally associate with this term?
For me, it’s about looking in the mirror and asking myself how I’m contributing to society: am I building a society that’s more compassionate, more connected, and more authentic? Staying true to those values is a key part of social impact and it’s why AIG does our best to support the local people through emergency relief, partnering with nonprofits, and creating job opportunities. Our live social products have made it possible for many people whose livelihoods were shut down during the pandemic to earn a living from home with just a mobile phone. Through our platforms, anyone can be a part of the creator economy, and that’s one of the ways I ensure my company and I are impacting the world for the better.
Social Responsibility — What is your best practice to integrate it into your daily life?
I make sure that social responsibility isn’t something that I simply do as an individual, but also something I implement at a corporate level. I designed a CSR program for AIG that not only actively helps our local communities in times of need, but also empowers employees to take action in their lives.
Conscious Living — Why is it important to live our life consciously? And how do our actions influence and affect each other, and therefore connect us?
Part of social responsibility is awareness; we can’t take action until we’re aware of what needs exist. So part of my work is to make sure local needs are amplified through AIG’s global live social platforms. Through our products, people around the world can stay informed and integrate social responsibility into their lives as well.
A lot of our lives can be spent in bubbles, interacting only with people from the same backgrounds and cultures as us. I think it’s crucial that we interact with wider global communities and learn to recognize the common humanity we all share. Through tools like real-time voice translation, AIG’s platforms help people recognize their interconnectedness and see how their actions impact others.
The Future — What is your personal outlook on the future?
The pandemic has been isolating and challenging for many people around the world, but it has also demonstrated people’s creativity and resilience and opened new avenues of connection online. I believe the future will give us even more opportunities to connect with others and be inspired by people around the globe. AIG’s products make it possible to connect across cultures and languages, and this will be key to helping alleviate this challenge for people around the world.
THANK YOU!
Connect with Andy Tian on Twitter.
Demee Koch about the MEDIUM interview series on Social Impact:
Hello! I am a serial entrepreneur practising conscious entrepreneurship. This is an interview series about social responsibility and the best practices in incorporating it into our daily lives.
Every day, we make an impact consciously and subconsciously. It is implemented through our actions.
A great example of this is the practice of our Purchasing Power where we can actually direct our impact by consciously deciding which brands and companies we nourish.
I interview change advocates about best practices for incorporating social consciousness into our daily lives, and practices in the business world that need to change for the benefit of social responsibility.
With this interview, we invite the reader to reflect their every day actions. We all have an impact, and if we are consciously aware of that, we can be empowered to start the change for a better future.
Thank you for being the change. I’m looking forward to learn from each one of you. Reach out to me via LinkedIn.
Demee ❤︎
