P

ersevering and never giving up describes Eka Taufik Syah Putera to a tee. Putera started from the lowest rung of the ladder as an ordinary employee.

But in just four short years, his career shot up and today Putera is a successful businessman heading PT Geo Link Nusantara (GLN), a major player in the oil and natural gas sector.

The oil and natural industry is a capital intensive business and many companies in this line get investment from foreign companies.

Besides the huge capital required only experienced people with the appropriate educational background would dare venture into this field.

Putera, as he is often called by those close to him, rejects this paradigm. “It’s not always so. The key is hard work, determination, the willingness to learn, not to lose hope in difficult situations. These are the main assets actually,” he said.

Putera recalls that before his current success he was just a marketing staff in a private domestic oil and gas company.

Although just an employee, Putera felt certain and optimistic that one day he could own his
own business by saving the commissions he received from business tenders.

“Previously I was only a marketing agent of an oil and gas company and I received commissions from sales and tenders. I saved the commission for my working capital. I always had the dream that one day I would have my own company and finally that dream has come true,” said the father of one.

Putera admits that the journey there has been full of challenges and struggles. He can still recall having to wait in a company’s waiting room to find out the result of a tender.

Even after becoming a director, Putera, whose hobby is fishing, still often works hands on and gets involved in submitting tenders and staying in areas of conflict.

”When I was Director of PT Batam Dwi Karya to procure drilling equipment I had to stay in an area of conflict, Gujarat, India, and there was minimum security and it was difficult even to get food,” said Putera, born in Kisaran, North Sumatra on June 6, 1975.

Putera said doing business was like learning to ride a bike; you often fall down and get up to ride again. But one has to have high spirits, courage and optimism in order to open the door to success,
he said.

Networking and maintaining others’ trust are also vital for success and equally important is treating the employees as a company asset.

Putera said that his business started with a procurement order for drilling equipment worth US$ 124,000, but today GLN is one of the largest suppliers in the oil and gas business.

Some of the services provided by GLN are as follows: drilling services, engineering, procurement, construction and installation/EPCI, fluid drilling, mud logging unit services and trading and supplying of pipes and various drilling equipment.

Under his leadership GLN has won mega project tenders, such as integrated drilling project (MPPT) from PT Pertamina EP in Region Java II worth $76 million.

Another major project was the 40 kilometer oil pipe infrastructure at Banyu Urip — Mudi, East Java, from PT Pertamina EP Cepu-Mobile Cepu Limited (MCL) with a contract lasting until 2014, on a BOO (build operate own) contract system with a capacity of 30,000 — 32,000 BOPD (barrels of oil per day).

Next GLN has also won a tender for casing and tubing pipes for PT Pertamina EP, PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy, Chevron Pacific Indonesia and several other oil and gas blocks in Indonesia.

He added that a successful businessman has to think about the long term and ‘outside the box’.
He cited as an example that GLN will make an initial public offering of its shares (IPO) in the first quarter of 2012 and will purchase a new drilling rig with the capacity of 1,500-2,000 horse power (HP).

“Long term thinking keeps one motivated and makes one consistently want to realize one’s dreams,” said the former director of PT Batam Dwi Karya.

As a successful businessman, Putera, who is also fond of music, does not forget his social responsibility, like building places of worship close to the project area and employing the local people.

In the eyes of his colleagues Putera is an inspiration for young businessmen. He is also known for developing a network and relationship with all layers of society.

Background

Name: Eka Taufik Syah Putera
Place and date of birth : Kisaran, North Sumatra, June 6, 1975
Nationality: Indonesian
Marital Status: Married