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SHIMIZU Premium Interview #4 - A dialogue with Travelio - Entrepreneurial Spirit
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“70% of what you fear won’t happen if you put in 100% effort. And even if the 30% of the fear comes true, you learn from those failures and get back up quickly.” - Christina Suriadjaja, Co-Founder of Travelio
In 2016, Travelio created an online platform which matches the needs between property owners and tenants alongside the launch of their property rental management business.
In less than a decade, Travelio has grown into the largest property rental management firm in Indonesia, successfully managing over 15,000 apartment units in 13 major cities across the country, offering end-to-end services for both owners and tenants.
The platform enables Travelio customers to choose not only flexible stay duration and different room types, but also flexible payment plans, with all transactions being possible to be done online.
For property owners, Travelio functions as an apartment operator that also provides cleaning, minor repairs, and insurance. Moreover, their business model is commission-based and does not offer upfront guarantees or fixed leases to owners, making them an asset-light company.
This innovation was quite disruptive and contributed to the positive transformation of the Indonesian property market because traditionally, tenants are required to enter long-term commitments with full upfront payment and at least 1 month’s worth of deposit on tenants. On the other hand, Travelio offers more flexible options for Indonesian millennials, that they can adjust freely according to their own budgets.
Simultaneously, Travelio solves the supply issues found in the industry, because the occupancy rate of apartments are generally less than 50% in the country. This is due to the fact that purchased properties are often bought for investment purposes, and are subsequently left vacant. Travelio utilizes this as an opportunity, and apartments under their management consistently reach over 65% instead.
Sitting down with Christina Suriadjaja, Co-Founder of Travelio, in the fourth edition of the SHIMIZU Premium Interview, Akiyama Kohei, Chief Representative of Shimizu Corporation Jakarta Office, makes use of this precious opportunity to learn about Travelio’s journey, their successful business model, as well as Suriadjaja’s entrepreneurial spirit.
“I have found out that despite the difference in industry and company size and age, there is a common ground, venture spirit, between Travelio and Shimizu Corporation” Akiyama says.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
“I had a unique childhood growing up. I was placed in different environments and changed schools every 4 years which taught me to be adaptable in different types of situations. I also played youth sports at a national level in Singapore, and that was an opportunity to learn discipline as well as perseverance. Through earning education abroad, I had learned to be independent, and most importantly to not be scared of failing. I think that must have been attributed to my entrepreneurial spirit.” Suriadjaja says.
She continues to explain that there is a code she has learned through her experience, a mantra that she still tells herself to this day.
“70% of what you fear won’t happen if you put in 100% effort. And even if the 30% of the fear comes true, you learn from those failures and get back up quickly.”
Akiyama concurs with Suriadjaja, stating “Although Shimizu Corporation has now become one of the longest-established companies in Japan, it also started with the founder’s enterprising spirit 220 years ago. Kisuke Shimizu, our founder, left his hometown and went to Edo (now Tokyo) to chase his dream of becoming a carpenter. Then when he was 21 years old, he made his dream come true and started his own business. That was the beginning of our company.”
The Future Strategy
Regarding frequent rumblings of the tech winter going on, Suriadjaja shared Travelio’s upcoming plans to tackle this issue.
“With everything going on around the world, the current economic landscape, it’s been quite tough for our industry. Especially after the pandemic we’ve been monitoring our spending to focus on efficiency and profitability.”
She continues that because of this, Travelio has managed to achieve a positive net profit for 3 months and a positive net operating income in December 2023. Stating that this is a testament to the sustainability of their business model and effective management practices.
Now Travelio is exploring the possibility of expanding their ancillary services and diversifying their source of recurring revenues. Currently, 60 percent of their revenue comes from rental commissions, with the remaining 40 percent coming from their ancillary offerings which includes cleaning, insurance, and property repairs.
“From the corporate action point of view, we are actively looking for potential M&A deals, to integrate and synergize with the core products of Travelio - be it a traditional, tech or any strategic company. We are looking to partner with companies that can share the same vision and mission with us moving forward,” she explains.
Akiyama also shares Shimizu’s future plans of digitalization, elaborating the following. “Construction is often considered as a conservative industry, but Shimizu is utilizing digital technologies just like Travelio to stay at the top of our game. Shimizu’s future strategy is to become a Smart Innovation Company by accelerating innovation utilizing Digital Trans- formation to create value that is ahead of time.”
“Our new mindset to realize our vision of being a Smart Innovation Company is expressed as ‘Beyond construction,’ and we aim to transcend the boundaries of construction to provide a full range of services, including construction, to solve the challenges of an increasingly diverse society and clients.,” He adds.
Cementing their commitment of going beyond construction, Akiyama also shared insight regarding Shimizu’s latest inno- vation and human resource development facility, their “Smart Innovation Ecosystem NOVARE” which launched their operations during September 2023 in Koto-ku, Tokyo.
NOVARE
”NOVARE is a Latin verb which means to create, to renew, and it’s also the origin of the word innovation. At this facility, we collaborate with various partners, including start-up companies to implement activities beyond the construction business, aiming to nurture talent and develop our company for a resilient and sustainable society over the next 50 years and more,” Akiyama explains.
The Way Forward
Shimizu Corporation Jakarta Office is celebrating an important milestone this year as it is commemorating the 50th anniversary of their operations in Indonesia. Reflecting on the anniversary, Akiyama conveyed appreciation towards their clients, partners, and staff, whose strong support is the reason why Shimizu has been able to come this far.
”My motto is Kerja Bersama, Maju Bersama, so we will continue to improve alongside our clients, partners and staff for the next half-century and more.”
Closing the discussion, both leaders shared what they think they can learn from one another and what they wish to see from each other’s future endeavors.
“Aside from business sustain- ability, we also want to foster a culture of continuous innovation. This entails successfully passing down the entrepreneurial spirit to all of our employees just like Shimizu after 200+ years.” Suriadjaja stated.
Akiyama expressed his gratitude to her and closed the dialogue with
“I have learned so much of Travelio’s business model today and most importantly, you helped me remember our company’s DNA, venture spirit! I hope that both of our companies can keep growing so that we can become essential companies for the people and country of Indonesia.”
For more information regarding Shimizu Corporation, follow the link below: https://www.shimz.co.jp/en/.
