Learn From Nadiem Makarim
Nadiem Makarim is an Education Minister of Indonesia right now.
I knew Nadiem Makarim since he was the founder and CEO of Gojek. However, I was proud of his struggle when building Gojek. He ever told about why and how he built Gojek from scratch. The story was interesting because he found a simple, innovative idea, but it solved the big problem of Ojek drivers in Indonesia.
We need more Indonesian people like him.
Nadiem Makarim graduated from Harvard Business School. It seems like he was a well-educated man from Indonesia. After he graduated from there, he came back to Indonesia.
In short, he found a problem of Ojek drivers in Indonesia, which most of them spent more time waiting for a passenger to come. He thought that they wasted time while they can use it to do productive things.
He decided to create a platform that bridges the Ojek drivers and the passenger. And it worked. He started Gojek with only 10 Employees and 20 Drivers. The system was simple when it was released.
Then, Nadiem improved the system and the application. It became much better than before. The passenger didn’t chat with the call center of Gojek, but the apps help find the nearest driver to come.
In three or four years later, Gojek grew up rapidly. The number of drivers increased from twenty drivers to thousand of drivers around Indonesia.
It was a terrific achievement of Nadiem Makarim. Because of his effort and patience in building Gojek, he got more achievements later on. He deserved it, I guess.
I know Gojek’s success is not instantaneous. There are ups and downs during the process.
Anyway, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you can learn from Nadiem Makarim. He found the business because he wanted to solve the specific problem. He didn’t found a new thing. He improved the transportation system instead.
Therefore, once you want to build a company like Gojek, you must solve the specific problem by changing the traditional system. Changing the system doesn’t mean breaking the system. It simply automates or simplifies the process like what Gojek did.
For example, there is a problem with finding organic food around the city. Then, you can create a platform that bridges the organic food producers with buyers. It can simplify the process. And it solves a specific problem.
What is your concern? What problem do you want to solve?
Let’s go back to Nadiem Makarim. The journey of Nadiem makarim in Gojek is inspirational. I get some insights from him. As we can see that Gojek still operates today even though Nadiem Makarim has been out of Gojek. The Gojek still grows. The driver and the passenger also grow day by day.
Again, let’s learn from Nadiem Makarim. He is a good role model for entrepreneurs, especially for startup founders.
Are you an entrepreneur?
Or willing to be an entrepreneur?
