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ON GENDER AND CAREER
I was very active at school, playing all sorts of sports. In fact, I was doing a Diploma in Engineering before I switched to major in Arts and Humanities at univeristy. Circumstances in my career pushed me to learn about technology, and I seldom turn my back to new things or opportunities.
I started my career doing direct marketing, and dealing with data had always been the central focus of my work. The use of technology eventually became necessary to help with communication to reach the masses and to organise workflows. I’ve always enjoyed technology and I had fun exploring its usage.
I like to challenge myself in everything that I do. Barriers and limitations are only in our minds. I’ve always set goals for myself and that helped me with my life’s journey.
ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
My whole career is about risk taking. I’ve been an entrepreneur for about 20 years and started 3 companies. The biggest one is going into payments; it’s another journey into the unknown. Selling online payment ideas to local banks was so tough especially when the demand then was so low.
ON OVERCOMING GENDER BIAS
I must say overcoming the gender bias was not easy. Three of us founded the company. We left the fundraising to our male counterpart, while us ladies focused on running the business. However, we do have to be persistent when speaking to fellow businessmen. After all, it’s all about the results that we produce that sparked many interests.
Women have strong minds and we believe that our skills to empower the work force can make a difference in the industry that we work in. Women are an under-tapped resource, and I’d like to help women advance and present them with new opportunities in the tech industry.
I found that women can offer a fresh perspective on product design, ways of working, risk-taking and many other aspects of business, thus breaking the stereotypical role of women in the soft-skills areas.
ON LEADERSHIP
Embrace the challenge, which is the key to survival. Learn and stay alert. Discover and connect with trends and information.
It is important to have a solid blueprint, to be able define future directions for the company and stay focused. Leaders are designers and the architects of the company. Being able to inspire other fellow workers is one philosophy that I hold close to my heart.
ON SUCCESS
We never knew where the business would lead us to when we first started. Our obsession then was to get through the hurdle of getting e-payment acceptance with the local banks.
The business strategy at that time was to create an online portal for Bali. The target audience was tourists and the missing piece was e-payment. We could have used PayPal, but we wanted to process payment in IDR.
Almost 8 years later, online payment is one of the pillars to the success of e-commerce in Indonesia. It is wonderful to get the support of the Central Bank, especially through programs like GNNT (National Cashless Movement). Cash is still king in Indonesia but, I am confident that through payment tech we can improve the situation in a few more years.
ON WORK-LIFE BALANCE
I try to hit the gym as often as I can early in the morning before work and I’ll do as much as I can to catch up with family and loved ones during short holiday breaks.
ON FUTURE CHALLENGES
There are so many aspiring achievements abroad that I hope we can replicate in Indonesia. For one, I would like to see more women in the tech world to drive the industry. And five years down the road, it’ll be very fulfilling to see people from all walks of life using DOKU to pay for anything locally, and hopefully, anywhere online.
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