Having operated for less than five years, the ICE has become a respected business brand and Ryan Adrian, who is also CEO of PT Indonesia International Graha (IIG), attributes the achievement to good teamwork.

“We have been in operation for just four years. It’s a new brand, but we today can see our position is good,” Ryan told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

Without hesitation, he mentioned “good team” as one of the keys to the success.

Located in the township of BSD City, and established under a joint venture of Sinar Mas Land and Kompas Gramedia Group, ICE is a venue for staging big events for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) as well special events like K-pop concerts.

For Ryan, establishing a solid team entails an ability to implement “reward and development”. He simply refrains from using “punishment”.

 “We reward those who perform well and develop those who underperform. We do not punish because it would harm integrity,” he said.

His respect goes beyond work relations.

 “They are our envoy. If they succeed, then they may become our partner. Former employees are also [our company] assets,” he said.

The solid team that Ryan has developed with such leadership has driven him steadily up the business ladder, as ICE is experiencing a positive trajectory with annual growth reported at between 20 and 25 percent on average.

The four-star, 285-room Santika Hotel, the other business portfolio under IIE located inside the ICE complex has an occupancy rate of 70 percent.

“If we can maintain the 20 percent growth, it will be sustainable over the next 10 years,” said Ryan, an international law bachelor whose work experience encompasses the fields of hoteliers, mall management and property industry.

Positive growth apart, he recognizes the importance of brand awareness.

“Our product is already known to public, but only a certain level of them. We are striving to get public at all levels knowing about ICE.

“ICE is known for its shows, such as concerts. Concerts is one of the ICE signature event to lift the ICE profile,” he said.

The team under Ryan’s leadership will always innovate and connect to the world to ensure IIE delivers quality services.

The most recent show at ICE featuring South Korean stage celebrities was the Super K-Pop Festival Indonesia (SKF) in September last year.

ICE has also become the venue for regular big events like Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI), the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) and the Big Bad Wolf (BBW), a book exhibition that reportedly drew 1 million visitors over 12 days last year.

The inaugural multiproduct ICEFest, which attracted some 180,000 visitors, seems to be a successful exhibition, but the TEI appears to be the most significant business assembly, particularly in respect to ICE’s establishment in the first place.

“ICE was built out of our corporate group’s concerns about MICE development in Indonesia,” Ryan said.

 “It is part of our support and contribution to Indonesia in the provision of a good and competitive MICE venue and ICE is expected to become a catalyst for the development of the creative industry and MICE itself,” he said.

The TEI regularly attracts some 6,000 buyers from 120 countries.

So big and significant are the expo events to the national economy, Indonesian trade attaches, according to Ryan, return home to attend the Indonesian export commodities expo.

“It’s big not because of the [big] number of visitors but because of overseas participation,” he said.

Event organizers have risen in number, which will lead to competition, but Ryan, who prefers to call them complimentary partners rather than competitors, has expressed confidence in ICE’s prospects.

His confidence lies not merely in the advantages that ICE offers, but more on his own managerial and entrepreneurship expertise that he has built since his college days.

Learning field

Ryan views his life path as flowing without a script, having dreamed of becoming a jet fighter pilot, but ending up relishing the “ground” challenges.

“I liked working while still undertaking my studies. My mother rejected the idea of jet fighter pilot because I am the only son among the siblings,” said Ryan, who took up kitchenhand work while taking an English course in Brisbane, Australia.

He started his career in a hotel, which he described as a discovered hobby.

Ryan, who views a job as learning field, sets a high bar on occupation, saying that he values career over money.

“The higher you are in a position, the broader you can see and learn,” he said.

His excellence in his profession first came to light when he became the general manager of a hotel and resort in Bali, at 28.

His passion for wildlife during high school seems to have laid the foundation for his adventurous spirit that he demonstrated when he took up a job as a property developer, which was alien to him, before joining IIE in 2016 as president director.

“Event organizer is not totally new to me. In hotels, we used to organize events,” said Ryan, a father of five.

Creativity and connectivity

He pointed out that the need for creativity and connectivity to ensure a sustainable business.

“Orders for event organizing services have been increasing, but the number of event organizers is also increasing. That’s why we always have to pursue something new with a new concept. The most important thing for us is creativity and connectivity,” he said.

In the face of increasing orders to organize events, the company decided to re-operate the IIG in 2016 to function as the event-organizing arm of IIE.

IIG work together with Maxima brought white sensation, an international indoor electronic dance and music event, to ICE in 2017.

“ICE was on its event calendar, with Indonesia as the 43^rd country. Ten thousands of participants showed up, all in white, of whom 70 percent had never been to ICE and 60 percent had never been to BSD,” Ryan said.

The BCA Expovesary in March and ICEFest in December are among the fruits of the company’s management creativity.

“IIG makes and develops new concepts and executes them in operation. They like the concept and trust us to be the Organiser for this prestigious event,” he said.

Connectivity to the world through a digital platform as well as allegiance with international associations is another key to business sustainability.

IIE is a member of Excellence in Convention Centre Management (AIPC), the International Congress, Indonesian Exhibition and Convention Organizers Asscociation (ASPERAPI) and Convention Association (ICCA) and the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.

ICE has 10 exhibition halls covering a total of 50,000 square meters, while another 35,000 square meters is an outdoor exhibition space. The center has a 4,000 square meter of Convention Hall and 33 meeting rooms.

“Ninety percent of the space is allocated for exhibitions, making ICE the largest exhibition venue in Southeast Asia,” Ryan said.

Its accessibility, which is only an about 40- minute drive from Soekarno-Hatta airport, the building design and friendly neighborhood have made ICE a favorite venue for holding an event.

 Improving the services and developing the products, Ryan said, will always be pursued in order to create sustainable business.

“Good products will make easy promotion,” he concluded.

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