Jakarta - Gojek has recently announced the appointment of Kevin Aluwi and Andre Soelistyo as co-CEOs following Nadiem Makarim’s resignation from his position as Gojek CEO to join President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo's new Cabinet.
The appointment of the two co-CEOs received a positive response from Gojek’s top investors.
Google general manager and vice president of payments and next billion users, Caesar Sengupta, said Gojek's innovation has changed the lives of millions of users of its application and has even been able to become one of the nation's economic drivers.
"Going forward, we hope to continue to strengthen our collaboration with Gojek’s two co-CEOs, Kevin and Andre, who will lead this champion company," he said in a release received on Oct. 22.
Another Gojek investor, the managing director and head of Southeast Asia, Warburg Pincus Jeffrey Perlman, also commented on the appointment of the co-CEOs. According to Warburg, both Kevin and Andre are Gojek’s best talents who have played a significant role in accelerating the growth of Gojek in their respective areas of expertise.
"I really respect Nadiem and support him to carry out his new role of improving the welfare of the Indonesian people through education. On the other hand, I am very confident that in the hands of Kevin and Andre Gojek will continue to grow rapidly to become the world's leading global player.”
Warburg said he also appreciates the performance of the two new Gojek co-CEOs because they both have proven capabilities for bringing Gojek to its current business scale.
Kevin and Andre themselves are not new to Gojek's executive ranks. Together with Nadiem, Kevin co-founded Gojek and has held significant leadership roles across product and functional teams. He also pioneered the use of data for decision-making across the organization. He collected deep technology expertise across the data, engineering and product teams, with a focus on enhancing the platform’s overall user experience.
Meanwhile, Andre was one of Gojek’s early investors and joined the company in 2015. Since then, he has played a pivotal role in laying a solid foundation for Gojek’s rapid growth. He has overseen the fundraising of more than US$4 billion, which attracted key investors such as Google, Tencent, Astra, KKR and Warburg Pincus. He has also laid the foundation for the company’s business strategy for long-term sustainability.
Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore managing director Shailendra Singh expressed hope of strengthening the cooperation that has been established with the two co-CEOs, who are known as dynamic leaders with strong vision. "Gojek has made a huge impact on the lives of millions of people and has greatly contributed to the Indonesian economy since we built the partnership in 2015. We believe the leadership of Kevin and Andre will bring the company to accomplish even higher achievements in the future," he said.
Maintaining success
Commenting on Kevin and Andre’s appointment as co-CEOs, East Ventures founder Willson Weather said the change in Gojek's management would not have a significant impact.
"The appointment of two Gojek co-CEOs is something that is reasonable. Gojek will continue to run its business as usual because basically the company has been run professionally," he said when contacted on Tuesday.
According to Wilson, the appointment of Nadiem is seen as a new breakthrough that will create changes in the bureaucracy given his background as a businessman.
The company’s other investors, Tencent and KKR, have also expressed their support for Nadiem’s new role in the Cabinet of President Jokowi. On the other hand, they also hope that Kevin and Andre would be able to make a significant impact in their respective roles and realize the company's vision of becoming a world-class organization and growing sustainably in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
In a joint statement, Kevin and Andre made assurances that the change of leadership on the Gojek executive level would not have any impact on either the day-to-day operations or the growth of the company. Kevin is to focus on product development, marketing strategies and organizational development, as well as ride-hailing services and food delivery. Meanwhile, Andre is to focus on corporate strategy, capital allocation, international expansion and payment and financial services.
"We have a solid plan for Gojek's future growth. Supported by the world's best talent, Gojek will drive its vision of building a world-class, sustainable company.”
Kevin and Andre’s commitment and contribution to Gojek since its early days have formed stakeholders’ confidence in Gojek’s future growth, internally as well externally. Both co-CEOs are to continue the company’s mission to remove life’s daily frictions for millions of people across Indonesia and Southeast Asia, as well as enable economic growth.
