Indonesian e-commerce lion

William Tanuwijaya is an Indonesian entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder of Tokopedia, an Indonesian e-commerce tech company with a large following among Indonesian consumers. In 2019, he was honoured by the President of the Republic of Indonesia with the Medal of Honour (called Satyalancana Wira Karya) for his outstanding contribution to Indonesia's technological and economic development.

Tanuwijaya was born in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, Indonesia, in 1981. He comes from a middle-class family. He received his education at Harvard Kennedy School, despite his modest origins. His internet entrepreneurial ventures stemmed from his varied IT-related job experience, which included everything from app and game developer positions to IT and Business Development Manager roles in the 2000s. His biggest break in internet entrepreneurship came in 2007, when he and a friend, Leontinus Edison, founded Tokopedia, an e-commerce startup that connects Indonesian buyers and sellers for free. This marketplace startup went on to dominate consumer e-commerce in the massive country of 270 million people.

Tokopedia received its first round of funding from Softbank and Sequoia Capital, making it the first Indonesian marketplace to do so. These financial institutions were instrumental in the early success stories of Facebook and Alibaba. Tanuwijaya would forever change the Indonesian marketplace scene if they provided $100 million in funding.

Tokopedia's beginnings

When Tanuwijaya was a student, he was often questioned about creating an online store website. He was in charge of uploading images to websites and responding to customer conversation. This idea ignited his desire to create a free, easy, and dependable online marketplace. Tanuwijaya and Edison persevered even in the face of adversity, when Tanuwijaya's father was diagnosed with cancer.

Tanuwijaya had to be the family's sole breadwinner because his father could no longer work, and he had to keep working. For him, time was not the only constraint. Tokopedia's early production was also hampered by a lack of resources. Despite the challenges he faced, he made time for Tokopedia because he was dedicated to his dream company. Following that, he was introduced to the funders. After several presentation setbacks, he was finally able to obtain his first funding for the company in 2009. Before his dream was realised at the first step, he had to go through 11 pitches.

Tokopedia's initial funding success proved to be worthwhile. The investment sum increased with each passing year. Tokopedia expanded from 4 employees to 300 employees in less than half a decade, in 2014. Sequoia Capital and Softbank's investments paid off handsomely.

Tokopedia's company

Tokopedia also offers a free C2C business forum for buyers and sellers in addition to the marketplace. To conduct their B2C service, well-known brands also have official online stores. Credit, utility payments, travel tickets, concert event tickets, credit cards, and many other digital items are available. Financial technology (Fin Tech) products and services were introduced to Tokopedia in 2016 and sold via the Mitra Tokopedia framework. Digital wallets, virtual credit cards, and lending services are among them. They aimed to make these financial products accessible to Indonesians in a simple and affordable manner.

Deals Products from the most common beauty and travel categories are released a year later, in 2017. Its aim was to assist users in finding the best offers. Deals Products can also be used by offline companies to expand their online presence.

Tokopedia raised US$1.1 billion in funding in each of the years 2017 and 2018. By November 2019, Tokopedia will have over 7 million merchants and 200 million items under Tanuwijaya's leadership. BTS and Blackpink, two Korean K-pop artists, have been appointed official ambassadors to Tokopedia.

To help its marketplace operation, the company built an integrated fulfilment and logistics system. Customers may choose their desired shipment arrival time, which is also convenient for logistics providers, by using this service. During the peak of the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020, this service had reached nearly every district in Indonesia.

COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19, wreaked havoc on many industries and enterprises, resulting in a severe economic downturn. However, it also brought with it a slew of new possibilities for a variety of industries. During this time, Tanuwijaya and Tokopedia digitally transformed several businesses. In reality, the COVID-19 pandemic has aided and even accelerated the digital transformation.

The number of sellers on the Tokopedia platform had increased from 7.2 million in January to more than 9.4 million in September 2020. Every month, over 100 million people visit the website. In an email interview with the Jakarta Post, William Tanuwijaya said this.

The food and beverage industry has been a leader among retailers, as many restaurants and coffee shops have had to close their physical locations and are looking for a digital channel to market their goods. Many sellers reported that selling on the platform resulted in more sales than selling offline. In Tokopedia, coffee was a very common commodity. Tokopedia was responsible for 90% of revenue at a coffee shop named Klinik Kopi.

Temasek Holdings, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund, agreed to invest US$350 million in Tokopedia in November 2020. This came after Temasek was recognised for its outstanding business success during the pandemic, which included online shopping.

Read more about Tokopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokopedia