I

t seems that Ririek Adriansyah is inseparable from the telecommunications industry as more than half of his life has been linked to this prime industry. “From my days at university until today I have always been close to the telecommunications world,” said the graduate of electrical engineering.

Born in Yogyakarta on Sept. 2, 1963 his entire career has been involved in the telecommunication industry. He joined PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) in 1989. He was initially given the responsibility of handling matters connected with satellites in the state-owned corporation. Ririek also had the opportunity to expand his knowledge in telecommunications at UCLA, United States. “After graduating from UCLA I worked at the representative office of Telkom in the United States for the preparation of Palapa B4 satellite,” said Ririek.

Back here Ririek was again involved handling matters connected with satellites and he was placed in Telkom’s business unit that takes care of its satellites, Witelsat. He was also involved in the preparations for the launch of Palapa C satellite.

“I was also “lent” to Satelindo for almost three years,” he said while mentioning that at the time Telkom was one of Satelindo’s shareholders.

Having extensive experience in the world of satellites now Ririek carries a larger responsibility. He is now president director of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin) after holding the position of marketing director for almost three years. Telin is a business unit of Telkom that is tasked with raising Telkom’s profile among international telecommunication corporations.

“In Indonesia indeed Telkom already has a solid reputation, but at the international level it is still far below companies in neighboring companies such as Singtel or Telecom Malaysia,” explained Ririek. “It is Telin’s task to ‘raise Telkom’s flag’ internationally,” he added.

Ririek said that as a new player Telin had a lot of homework to take care of. That’s why Telin has not set a grandiose target. “At present we are more focusing on business development where the traffic of voice and data from and to Indonesia is quite huge,” he said.

Ririek has been involved in various profitable ventures and strategic partnerships for Telin.

Currently Telin is already collaborating with more than 60 companies in 20 countries connecting more than 400 destination points in the world.

Ririek said that Telin is already moving on the right track. Last year Telin enjoyed a 70 percent increase in business growth with an incoming revenue of Rp 334 billion along with the increased sales of international bandwidth for data and Internet up to 94.8 Gbps.

Telin has also succeeded in developing some of its portfolio components and is always looking ahead to the future. “We have also increased our ownership shares in Scicom (MSC) Berhad Malaysia as much as 13.3 percent taking our ownership in the company to 29.7 percent,” explained Ririek.

Ririek’s major dream is to help speed up the realization of Telin’s vision, which is Bridging the World with Indonesia and Beyond.

Therefore he is focusing on the company’s transformation in business development, infrastructure, system, corporate culture and enhancement of human resources, all of which have been initiated by his predecessor.

“So far the results indicate our achievements reflected by Telin’s enhanced performance in providing services for information communication and international network based on our two main business portfolios, namely international telecommunications and investment as well as strategic partnership or collaboration,” he said.

”The various transformations at all levels have boosted our self confidence to realize our resolve in becoming one of global leaders in the telecommunications industry, which is consistent with our mandate to execute international business of Telkom Group,” said Ririek, who is fond of playing golf.

However, Ririek is fully aware that the company’s success does not solely depend on his own performance, but is based on the contributions of his staff and the rest of the human resources. That’s why he strives to have a close relationship with them. “I am very accessible,” he said. “And I treat them as friends,” he added.

He said it is very important to make the employees feel comfortable and close to him, because the progress of the company largely depends on them. “The duty of a leader is more like a coordinator and mentor,” he said. As a mentor, he continued, the leader should not go into too much detail to enhance their creativity and boost their sense of responsibility.

Ririek further said that giving subordinates opportunities and trust is a good way to bring out their potential.

“They have to be developed fully, given opportunities to deepen their knowledge and expand their experience, because it will be one of them who will replace me,” he said.

The father of three said a good evaluation of a leader’s success is not only during the time he or she is in the top position, but also after he or she leaves. “It can be said that the leader has failed if the company is only successful during his period, but collapses after he or she leaves,” he emphasized.

That is why, Ririek concluded, it is most important for a leader to form the company’s future leaders by monitoring the employees potential.