Although the interview was interrupted several times by incoming calls and text messages, Shinta Witoyo Dhanuwardoyo, chief executive officer of web developer bubu.com, still managed to keep our conversation flowing.

If there is something the 39-year-old can't do, it is probably let go of her passion for web development.

Funny as it may seem, but the CEO of the pioneer web developer company has no educational background in computer or information technology.

The only formal education she received on the subject came while undertaking an undergraduate degree in architecture in the United States, in which she had to make architectural drawings with her Apple laptop.

It was after graduation that her passion for the web budded, when she decided to pursue a Masters in business, a decision that baffled her father.

"Perhaps I have the entrepreneurial spirit, that's why I want to major on business. My father told me that he could only finance the first year and that I should be on my own on the second year," said the eldest of four.

It was at this time that she applied to be a supervisor in the campus computer lab, as it granted her a 75 percent reduction in her tuition fees, as well as a monthly salary. Working in the lab gave her the chance to learn more about the internet from the IT guys she found herself surrounded by.

Returning to Indonesia in 1995, Shinta worked for a management consultant but continued to pursue her passion for web design making personal websites with her friends.

"We wanted to make a web design company. In 1996, we established Bubu Internet, which later became known more simply as Bubu.com. I decided to quit my job at the consultancy to focus on Bubu," she said.

The company has grown; from the five people it started with, it now employees a staff of 26.

"Bubu has never been big from the earliest creation. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why we can sustain all this time. If anything happens, I can quickly make and apply strategies to save the company," she said.

Back at the start, the company faced many stumbling blocks as the internet was still a relatively unknown phenomenon. Shinta also faced gender discrimination "In the past, the guests coming to Bubu often asked me, 'Can I speak to your boss?' Yeah, you're looking at her. It still happens, though, if the person does not work in the industry, they usually do not know that Bubu is managed by a woman," she said, laughing.

Bubu gradually gained acknowledgement after Shinta held the first Bubu Award in 2001. Besides promoting the Bubu brand, the award also helps educate the public about how to establish a winning website.

Shinta says that a good website is defined by its content, ease of navigation, use of technology and overall design. But it all depends on what the site is about; an e-commerce site should make technology the top priority, while a corporate site should pay more attention to design.

Shinta considers pre-2001 the learning years. She said that in 2000, Bubu made many portals, which later went ashtray, such as politics and news portal www.koridor.com and music portal www.musickita.com.

"The experience taught us how to manage portals. It was an expensive experience, but it became our capital to survive."

"If I don't have persistency and passion for this industry, I would have left a long time ago because the company was bleeding for quite some time. We had just reached break-even point in 2003 and gained profit in 2004," she said.

Celebrating the 13th anniversary this year, Bubu's clients now range from governments to corporations and its clients include the Embassy of Japan, PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) and Iwan Tirta.

"I want to build a corporate culture based on creativity, passion and mutual vision. I want people to think of Bubu as the digital player in Indonesia, because we are the digital agency."

This is one of the reasons why Shinta launched such a massive campaign for this year's Bubu Award. The move came at the right time, as the development of social media in Indonesia rose higher than ever before this year, with 7 million Indonesians now on Facebook.

"It's the right time for branding. Therefore, we organized a conference, invited international speakers and representatives from Yahoo! South Asia. We even managed to get Jerry Yang, Yahoo! co founder, to speak at the event," she said.

"The theme was initially "The Rise of the Digital Era". But then there was the Mega Kuningan bombings and people rushed to support *indonesiaunite on Twitter. We finally make a new theme: Uniting Creative Minds for Creative Nation. We also support creative industries, so the new theme made sense," she said.

Besides the Bubu Award, Bubu has another annual event: Pesta Blogger (Blogging Party). Bubu used to have Bubu Chikka, a content provider for mobile operators. To strengthen the Bubu brand, Shinta later merged this with Bubu.

"Since we are digital agency, we must be strong in the mobile industry and social media. I predict that in the future the internet will be a strong media because it will be accessible through mobile devices," she said.

Shinta saw that the internet grew strong as the global economic crisis forced corporations to make inexpensive but effective campaigns.

Therefore, she has expanded the company's services, from simply web design, to digital marketing.

Shinta is a member of the application and content division of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and a member of the Indonesian Association for Software and Telematics (Aspiluki).

With the internet industry growing in Indonesia, Shinta sees competitors as friends with the same passion.

"I always tell my subordinates that we have to become a better Bubu. Not only that we need to see what the competitors do, but we must also see our own vision and mission," she said.

"We can cooperate, share feelings and create synergy. There is time to compete, sometime they win and sometime we win. But in the future, there are certain things where we can help each other with."

Name: Shinta Witoyo Dhanuwardoyo

Date of Birth: Jan. 18, 1970

Education:
- Graduate Online Studies, Corporate Leadership and Innovation, University of South Australia, Scholarship sponsored by GUA (Global University Alliance), October 2000- February 2001

- Master's of Business Administration (majoring in International Business), Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1993 - August 1995.

- Bachelor of Interior Architecture (BIarc), University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA, August 1989- June 1993

Language skills:
Fluent in Indonesian and English, able to understand Spanish and Tagalog

Hobbies:
Painting, blogging (www.batikantik.com), reading, dancing, surfing the internet, collecting batik, antique kebayas, vintage jewelry and antiques in general.

Work Experience
- President Director/ CEO/Shareholder of the digital agency Bubu Internet (Bubu.com): July 1996- Present Website: http://www.bubu.com

- CEO/ Shareholder of Internet service company PT. Mailkita Perdana (Mailkita.com): May 2000- 2003

- Commissioner of PT. Koridor dot com: March 2000- Feb 2001 PT. Koridor dot com, an Internet news portal (focused on economic and political news), which was updated online in real-time, with Dirk Manangka, a senior reporter as Chief Editor. Website: http://www.koridor.com

- Commissioner of lifestyle portal PT Nasgor dot com: June 2000 - Feb 2001 Website: http://www.nasgor.com

- Commissioner and management consultant of Indonesian music portal MusicKita.com: November 2000 - 2003 Website: http://www.musickita.com

- Consulting Partner at interior design company Ridjal Badri and Rekan: June 1997- 2002

Activities
- Member of ASPILUKI (Software Association of Indonesia)

- Member of Committee in the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN); Vice to the Head of the Telecommunication IT and Media for Content and Application division

- Owner of Vintatic: Chic Vintage Couture - A small vintage jewelry and accessories business. The collection is painstakingly acquired from estate sales, auctions, online sales, antique dealers and all reputable sellers from the United States with few exceptions from Europe and Japan. Website: www.vintatic.com

Latest Achievements
Frequently invited by International organizations, such as UN, UNESCAP, UNESCO, APWINC, LIPI, government institutes and universities to give lectures and training on entrepreneurship, IT web development, Women & IT and related careers. Member of judging panel for various IT related events. Often invited by magazines, radio stations and television stations to be a guest speaker for IT and women's issues.

Received several awards and recognitions, including "The most powerful women 2008" for women entrepreneurs under 40 (SWA April 2008 edition), "Most Inspirational Women" (Wanita Indonesia, January 2008), and others related to entrepreneurship, leadership and women in IT.

Started the Bubu Awards, a nation wide web design competition (www.bubuawards.net).

Organized the first Bloggers Party (Pesta Blogger) in Indonesia to gather top Indonesian bloggers.

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