In today’s changing era driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of people have made major breakthroughs and innovations to solve emerging problems, bringing benefits to people and driving inspirational ideas. Recognizing such people is apparently the reason why Fortune Indonesia released its inaugural 40 Under 40 list, which includes Gojek CEO and cofounder Kevin Aluwi among them.
The Fortune Indonesia 40 Under 40 list features 40 Indonesians under the age of 40 who have become agents of change.
“The 40 names were selected from almost 200 strong candidates. The pandemic that continues to linger until now has changed how we interact, transact, invest and conduct activities. Some of the figures under ‘40 Under 40’ have managed to offer solutions to the changes now taking place,” Fortune Indonesia writes in its February 2022 edition.
Apart from Kevin, the other 40-somethings on the list who have made significant achievements include Tokopedia COO Melissa Siska Juminto, Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim, actor Reza Rahadian Matulessy, artist and businessman Raffi Ahmad, badminton athletes Greysia Poli and Apriyani Rahayu, East Java Deputy Governor Emil Dardak, Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and KitaBisa.com founder CEO M. Alfatih Timur.
The selected people come from a variety of backgrounds, from business to technology, from entertainment to sports and government.
Apart from an age cutoff of 40 by Feb. 1, 2022, the figures were also assessed for the breakthroughs and contributions they had made over at least the last two years that had benefited fellow human beings and inspired Indonesians.
According to the magazine, the figures listed on the Fortune Indonesia 40 Under 40 are people who not only had dreams, but who had also raised Indonesia to the world stage through their stories and achievements. The initiatives and steps that they have taken must also provide new paths for Indonesia and its future.
“Although they have different track records, they have something in common: [They] opened a new path for Indonesia,” writes Fortune.
Kevin earned a bachelor of science in Corporate Finance Entrepreneurship and International Relations from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Prior to the recognition from Fortune Indonesia, Kevin’s commitment to innovation earned him a place on the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2016 in the category of consumer technology company.
Decision to develop Gojek
Kevin, who is fond of gaming, crypto and literature, became a Gojek CEO in October 2019 following President Joko Widodo’s appointment of Gojek cofounder Nadiem Makarim as the Education and Culture Minister. He was previously the chief financial officer (CFO).
“Initially, Gojek was considered just a side project for everyone. None of the cofounders focused on Gojek. But I always loved the idea of Gojek. I was thinking that this was an incredible idea, but why was nobody serious about developing it? Nadiem, Mikey [Michaelangelo Moran] and I as cofounders, eventually made a full decision to develop Gojek,” recalled Kevin, who is a self-proclaimed admirer of Elon Musk and Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore.
When Gojek and Tokopedia announced its decision to merge in mid-2021 to form GoTo – Gojek, Tokopedia and GoTo Financial – Kevin became Gojek CEO.
Before Gojek, Kevin worked at Merah Putih Inc. and Zalora Indonesia. His previous experience in the technology industry contributed to developing Gojek from a mere call center in 2010. He was involved in raising funds for Gojek in 2014 and launching the mobile application in 2015.
“From the beginning, I loved the idea of Gojek very much because I often took Gojek from pangkalan,” he said, referring to an informal Gojek stop.
“When I still worked at Zalora, my office was in Bidakara and I stayed somewhere in the Kuningan area. I often took ojek [motorcycle taxi]. Almost every day, I took an ojek driven by the same driver on a regular basis and so I was sure that the most efficient transportation means in Jakarta was ojek,” said Kevin.
Today, Gojek is a leading on-demand superapp in Southeast Asia that operates in three countries: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. Gojek provides easy access to a diverse array of services, from transportation and shipping, and from food delivery to digital payments.
“From the start, Gojek was established with the principle of taking advantage of technology to provide ease in people’s daily lives,” said Kevin.
By the end of their quarter of 2021, the Gojek app had been downloaded more than 221 million times and was supported by 2 million driver partners and 1 million GoFood merchants across the region, 99 percent of which are micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Big achievements
One of the greatest achievements Kevin has made at Gojek is developing the allocation and incentive systems for its on-demand transportation service, and expanding it to develop other Gojek services, such as GoSend and GoShop. In 2016, Gojek launched GoCar.
“This allocation system is the first in the world. At that time, there was no other technology company that could operate several kinds of services [...] carried out by the same driver partners.”
Gojek has adopted a point system for its different services based on the level of difficulty and duration, with the points exchanged as a bonus for its partners.
Continuing, Kevin said that one of the important data-driven innovations was its GoFood delivery service.
In the first five years of its operations, Gojek provided only three services: GoRide, GoSend and GoShop. It tuned out, however, that orders using its personal shopping service GoShop was dominated by food rather than groceries or other daily needs. This prompted the birth of GoFood, one of the most important products in the Gojek ecosystem.
According to Kevin, the greatest challenge moment that Gojek experienced during its development occurred at the end of 2015, when Gojek fell short of funds. This was a serious matter, as it had 200 employees at the time. Fortunately, the storm passed and the start-up managed to make it to the next funding round.
“Perhaps this was one of the critical moments. We were worried about disappointing the hundreds of people who trusted us and also the thousands of driver partners who really trusted our vision,” he said.
Kevin said that Gojek was able to develop and grow because of two key factors.
First, Gojek uses a different business model to meet the unique demands of consumers. Second, Gojek looks at its business from the perspective of both its transportation customers (passengers) and its ojek driver partners. It also believes in the productivity of its driver partners.
“They are honest people, hard workers who can be trusted who need more opportunities,” he said.
When it comes to his leadership style, Kevin tends to encourage employees to focus on solutions. He is also eager to help create a culture that will drive homegrown companies to develop world-class products.
“I want Gojek to be an inclusive space where the best people in the world from different backgrounds can develop and work.”
