DESCRIBE ONE OF INDONESIA POPULAR ENTREPRENEUR

WILLIAM TANUWIJAYA

 FOUNDER OF TOKOPEDIA 

The phrase "Hard Effort Will Not Betray The Results" seems appropriate to be pinned on William Tanuwijaya, founder of Tokopedia, a marketplace from Indonesia that can dominate the market while providing the highest quality platform for business people in marketing their products.

When everyone already knew, even had already used Tokopedia, they did not know how hard the path that William had to go from seeking knowledge, migrating to becoming the founder of Tokopedia which was certainly not an easy business. Many problems had to go through William until finally he could become one of the best CEOs who led such a large company.

William Tanuwjiaya was born on November 11, 1981 in Pematangsiantara, North Sumatra. From birth to high school graduation, William did it all there. Although growing up in a family with a mediocre economy and needing a hard struggle to send their children to school, William's parents want to give their best.

This was proven by William's father who asked him to migrate to Jakarta to continue studying there. With great determination, William accepted the offer and he began his journey to Jakarta, but not by waiting for airplane transportation, but by sea.

He traveled for four days to get to Jakarta. The Port of Tanjung Priok was a silent witness of William's first steps in seeking knowledge and building his career later. And Bina Nusantara University became a forum for William to absorb knowledge that was useful for him.

Entering the second year of his lecture, William had to get bad news. His father, who specifically asked him to migrate to Jakarta, fell ill. In order to make a living in Jakarta, William ended up working as a night shift internet cafe guard located near his campus. It was there that William felt a massive internet access because he could use it all the time. Love of the digital world arises by itself.

Seeing how Google's success made William inspired to get the same experience and the same ambition: open an internet-based business. But he did not run it immediately after graduating from college in 2003. Previously, William traveled to several software development companies to the game industry to taste the rigors of work that he would later face when opening his own business.

In 2007, William was determined to open Tokopedia. He even asked the help of his friend, Leontinus Alpha Edison, to work with him in building Tokopedia. But he found it difficult to get back. For two years, William traveled to many financiers to find an injection of funds for Tokopedia, unfortunately he was always rejected.

Fortunately, in 2009, there were investors who trusted both William and Tokopedia. Funding came and William managed to open a business that would make his name fly high up to the seventh heaven. 

Tokopedia was formed to be a gathering place for sellers to market their goods as well as a gathering place for buyers who need certain items. That was the first mission of Tokopedia. And it takes up to 5 years for Tokopedia to get what they want, which is the trust of consumers and the trust of investors.

In 2014, Tokopedia received an injection of funds of $ 100 million from Softbank Internet and Media and Sequoia Capital. This huge fund has become a turning point for Tokopedia after massive promotion and branding. The quality is also improved. The result in 2016, William received recognition from various economic media. He got another large cash injection from Alibaba Group.

Entering 2019, Tokopedia has succeeded in penetrating into the top of mind of Indonesian people and William the founder of Tokkopedia also stands as a proud figure of his family because of the results of hard work, parents' efforts and unanimous determination, he successfully became the founder of Indonesian marketplace website. who gained world recognition.

Cr pics: Google