Wikipedia

Ferry Unardi

Ferry Unardi (born January 16, 1988) is an Indonesian software engineer and business executive known as the founding CEO of Traveloka, an online travel agency and booking website.[1] After working at Microsoft as a software engineer,[2] in 2012 he co-founded Traveloka in Jakarta,[3][4][5][6] later expanding the company into countries such as Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines.[7] By 2022, the company was the largest online travel agency in Southeast Asia.[8] Unardi is a recipient of the Satyalancana Wira Karya Award from the President of Indonesia.[9]

Ferry Unardi
Born (1988-01-16) January 16, 1988 (age 36)
Padang, Indonesia
NationalityIndonesian
EducationHarvard Business School
Alma materPurdue University
Occupation(s)Software engineer, entrepreneur, business executive
Years active2008-present
Organization(s)Traveloka (CEO, Co-founder, Chairman)
Board member ofTraveloka
AwardsSatyalancana Wira Karya Award

Early life and education

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Ferry Unardi was born in Padang, Indonesia on January 16, 1988.[1] Growing up in Padang,[10] he developed an interest in information technology in high school,[10][11] in part through programming competitions.[1] Graduating high school in 2004,[10][12] he moved to the United States to attend Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.[13] After taking part in a number of coding competitions,[14] he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in both computer science and mathematics[9] in 2008. He moved to Seattle, Washington[13] that year[9] to serve as a software engineer for Microsoft Corporation,[12] working at Microsoft Lync on "real-time media performance and reliability."[2] While at Microsoft, he began considering a career in business.[10][11] Interested in studying business in Southeast Asia,[10] Tech in Asia writes that "on a whim, he decided to take a flight to China just to see what the market had to offer."[15] He studied Mandarin and visited large e-commerce companies such as Alibaba, Ctrip, Taobao, and Qunar to see how they operated.[13][10] In 2011,[9] he resigned from Microsoft[11] and began attending Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts,[13] starting work on a Master of Business Administration degree.[16]

Career

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2011 to 2016

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While studying in Boston[11] and traveling to visit family in Indonesia, Unardi frequently encountered difficulties booking flights. Frustrated, he came upon the idea of creating an Indonesian travel website that would simplify the comparison of flight details.[15] Unardi contacted two Indonesian friends from his time at Microsoft, Albert, who he'd met at Purdue, and Derianto Kusuma.[1] Considering the market climate in Indonesia,[6] the three decided to leave their jobs and studies to form a startup company in Indonesia together.[13] With Unardi dropping out of Harvard Business School[17] to serve as founding chairman and CEO,[9] they co-founded Traveloka in early 2012[6] in Jakarta, Indonesia.[15] The Traveloka website went public in October 2012,[12] and at the time, served only as an aggregator and search engine for flights.[15]

Indonesia experienced a travel business boom in 2013,[6] with Traveloka becoming an online travel agency (OTA).[18] In 2013, Traveloka began letting users purchase flights as well as search for them[15] and hotel bookings were added in 2014.[19] As Traveloka CEO, Unardi spoke at the 2014 Startup Asia Jakarta event.[15] Also in 2015, the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and several Indonesian startup founders including Unardi visited Silicon Valley to meet with investors.[20] By 2016, Unardi had traveled with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on a number of international visits to "promote Indonesia's startup scene."[7] In 2016, Unardi received the Satyalancana Wira Karya Award from Widodo.[9] Also in 2016 Forbes ranked him 27th in its "30 Under 30 Asia: Retail & E-Commerce" list.[21]

2017 to 2023

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With Unardi as CEO, Traveloka had expanded by 2017, opening offices in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.[7] Expedia Inc invested $350 million in the company in 2017, with Traveloka valued at over $1 billion and considered a unicorn company.[22] Later in 2017, Unardi was one of five startup founders included in the inaugural Next Indonesia Unicorn International Summit (NextICorn), where the Indonesian Ministry of Communication again introduced various entrepreneurs to investors in Silicon Valley.[23] Unardi spoke at the subsequent NextICorn in Nusa Dua, Bali in 2018, and also at the 2018 launch of EV Growth at the Djakarta Theater.[12] Unardi received the 2018 ASEAN Entrepreneur Award.[10] Also in 2018, Tech in Asia included him in a list of Southeast Asia's top 30 tech founders.[24]

He spoke on Bloomberg Daybreak at Bloomberg's New Economy Forum in Beijing in 2019.[25] During the early months of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Traveloka had surges in refund and rescheduling requests, and Traveloka began booking COVID-19 vaccination appointments.[26] In 2021, Tatler Asia included him on a list of Asia's Most Influential.[27] Under Unardi, by 2022, Traveloka had expanded beyond travel bookings to also sell lifestyle products and services such as attraction tickets, activities, transportation rentals, restaurant vouchers, credit[18] and insurance.[28]

Personal life

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In 2012, Unardi moved from where he was studying in the United States to Jakarta, Indonesia.[29]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Chilkoti, Avantika (September 21, 2015), "High flyer quit Harvard to get travel start-up off the ground", Financial Times, United Kingdom, retrieved November 30, 2022
  2. ^ a b Traveloka flies under the radar at the top of its game (#StartupAsia preview)", Tech in Asia, 09-30-2014
  3. ^ Sambur, Hana (November 14, 2016), "40 Indonesian startup founders you should know", Tech in Asia, retrieved November 30, 2022
  4. ^ Mudassir, Rayful (September 16, 2018), "The story of Ferry Unardi Establishing Traveloka to Enter the Southeast Asian Market", Bisnis Indonesia, retrieved November 30, 2022
  5. ^ "Four Young People Become New Rich People in Indonesia", CNN Indonesia, July 26, 2018, retrieved November 30, 2022
  6. ^ a b c d "Why Traveloka could be Indonesia's first startup unicorn". Tech in Asia. May 5, 2015.
  7. ^ a b c Baziad, Masyitha (September 22, 2016). "Indonesia's Traveloka Begins South-EAst Asian Voyage". Digital News Asia. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  8. ^ "Traveloka enters ride-hailing as super app race heats up". The Jakarta Post. January 21, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Ferry Unardi", Growtheum Capital, 2023
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Success Story of Ferry Unardi, Son of Minang, Founder of Traveloka", Intren.id, 02-11-2020
  11. ^ a b c d Ferry Unardi: Dropped Out of Harvard to Create Traveloka", Prestige Magazine, 07-12-2018
  12. ^ a b c d Never Run Out of Ideas to Develop Traveloka", Katadata, 06-18-2018
  13. ^ a b c d e 5 Interesting Facts about Fery Unardi, Quitting Harvard to Focus on Building Traveloka", Akurat.co, 07-08-2019
  14. ^ Purdue Programmers Compete", Purdue University, 11-02-2005
  15. ^ a b c d e f "Ferry Unardi's journey to the top of the online travel industry". Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem.
  16. ^ Traveloka Indonesia CEO Ferry Unardi", Obsession News, 09-04-2018
  17. ^ "In the top flight: Everything you need to know about Traveloka (Part 1 of 2)". KrASIA. 2021-03-17. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  18. ^ a b "A decade of innovations: Traveloka's journey, from metasearch to lifestyle superapp".
  19. ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem".
  20. ^ Jokowi invites Indonesia's top startups on US visit, The Jakarta Post, October 22, 2015, retrieved November 30, 2022
  21. ^ Howard, Caroline (February 24, 2016), "30 Millennials Under 30 In Asia Who Are Changing E-commerce And Shopping", Forbes, retrieved November 30, 2022
  22. ^ "Expedia invests $350M in Traveloka to create Southeast Asia's newest unicorn". 28 July 2017.
  23. ^ Mulia, Khamila (April 15, 2019), "Government foundation hopes to boost the emergence of new unicorns in Indonesia", KrASIA, retrieved November 30, 2022
  24. ^ Tay, Daniel (August 15, 2018), "Southeast Asia's top 30 tech startup founders", Tech in Asia, retrieved November 30, 2022
  25. ^ "Traveloka Looking to Grow Into Lifestyle, Financial Services: CEO", Bloomberg Daybreak Asia, November 21, 2019, retrieved November 30, 2022
  26. ^ "Traveloka's Recovery after Nearly Zero Bookings During Covid-19". Tech in Asia. 2021.
  27. ^ "Ferry Unardi", Tatler Asia, 2021, retrieved November 30, 2022
  28. ^ "Southeast Asia's biggest travel app plans regional fintech expansion before 2021 listing". Reuters. 25 February 2021.
  29. ^ Brahm, Peter (September 7, 2016), "Traveloka is Likely an Undercover Tech Unicorn of Indonesia", Indonesia Expat, PT Koleksi Klasik Indonesia, retrieved November 30, 2022
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