[LINK] "How Indonesia's Tech Boom Poster Child Proved His Doubters Wrong"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg's Yoolim lee writes about Indonesia's e-commerce leader.

William Tanuwijaya was helping small companies build websites when he began shopping an idea for Indonesia’s first Internet shopping hub. It took 11 pitches to get funding, but his startup is now verging on becoming the nation’s first unicorn.

The son of a factory worker created Tokopedia in 2009 just as the economy and Internet usage mushroomed in the world’s fourth-most populous country. A then-record $100 million funding round that included SoftBank Group Corp. and Sequoia Capital in 2014 announced the nation’s coming-of-age as a bona fide destination for technology investment.

Tanuwijaya is the poster child for Indonesia’s online boom, a 34-year-old entrepreneur who started without family money or credentials and now hobnobs with government officials. With his company taking its name from the Indonesian word for store, he wants Tokopedia to become a local answer to Alibaba.com, and he credits that drive to some dismissive advice he received from a potential investor in 2008.

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Tanuwijaya is capitalizing on one of Asia’s youngest populations -- where the median age is 28-- and one of its most mobile-centric with more connections than people. About three-quarters of Tokopedia’s traffic comes from mobile devices.

That may propel the startup past $1 billion in valuation -- territory inhabited by so-called “unicorns.” There are currently only three in Southeast Asia -- two in Singapore and one in Thailand, according to CB Insights.