Praising Bill Gates As A Role Model, Kakao Founder Kim Beom-su Wants To Build A Foundation To An AI Campus

JAKARTA - Founder of South Korea's top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp., Kim Beom-su, says that the co-founder of Microsoft Corp., billionaire, and philanthropist Bill Gates is his role model.

Not only praising, but Kim also wants to track Gates as one of the successful billionaires who likes to donate through charities, ranging from health to education in the international world.

In an online conference with employees, Kim, who recently pledged to donate more than half of his assets worth more than 10 trillion South Korean won or about USD 9 billion, shared ideas about donations and the company's future.

"My role model for solving social problems is Bill Gates. He started a company and founded a foundation. And that first made me realize that a company can do things like that, so I have benchmarked him", said Kim.

Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft Corp., runs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world's largest private charities focused on global issues, including poverty and health care.

Kim hinted that he might as well set up a foundation to work on social issues.

"The Giving Pledge created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has become a culture for IT businessmen in the United States", he said.

"Maybe we should follow that step and I think we can also implement the 'creative capitalism' that Gates talked about", added the alumnus of Seoul National University.

About his promised donation which is estimated to be around 5 trillion won, Kim said he wants to use the money immediately where support is needed.

"I want to use a structure that we can schedule expenses in. I prefer project-type operations. If there is a problem, I just want to try something to solve it", said Kim.

Kim said he is attracted to those who are preparing for the future, people who lack opportunities because of the digital divide and talent in artificial intelligence (AI).

"I am thinking of setting up an AI campus to cultivate talents. I want to create a system where people can participate not only online, but also offline", he hoped.

Kim also emphasized the importance of startup companies, saying that he hopes he can see Kakao employees or their children running startups in the future.