William Tanuwijaya (born 11 November 1981) is an Indonesian entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Tokopedia, an Indonesian technology company with a leading e-commerce business. Tanuwijaya represents Indonesia as a Young Global Leader at World Economic Forum. In 2019, he received a Medal of Honor (Indonesian: Satyalencana Wira Karya) from the President of the Republic of Indonesia for his contribution to Indonesia's technology and economic growth.[1]

William Tanuwijaya
Born (1981-11-11) 11 November 1981 (age 43)
NationalityIndonesian
Alma materBINUS University
Harvard Kennedy School
OccupationInternet entrepreneur
Known forCo-Founder, Tokopedia
TitleChairman and CEO of Tokopedia
Co-Chairman of GoTo
SpouseFelicia HW

Early life and education

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Tanuwijaya was born in Pematangsiantar, North Sumatra, Indonesia. He graduated from high school there, and his family was the middle income who supported his education. William went to college at BINUS University and later studied at the Harvard Kennedy School.

To pay for college, Tanuwijaya worked part-time. He worked in an internet cafe twelve hours a day up until his graduated in 2003. He then worked as a software developer in companies including Telkomsigma and Sqiva Sistem. He later worked as a game developer at Bolehnet. In 2006, Tanuwijaya worked as the IT and Business Development Manager at Indocom Mediatama.

Business career

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Tokopedia

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In 2007, Tanuwijaya started to build Tokopedia, He asked his friend, Leontinus Alpha Edison, to join him as co-founder, an e-commerce startup that connects Indonesian buyers and sellers for free. At the same time his father was diagnosed with cancer. Tanuwijaya has supported his family since that time.

On February 6, 2009, Tokopedia officially launched. At that year's Indonesia Celebration of Independence on August 17 Tokopedia opened for public access. In October 2014, Tokopedia received US$100 million from Softbank Internet and Media and Sequoia Capital.[2] Tokopedia announced its next stage of investment on August 17, 2017 for $1.1 billion, from Alibaba Group.[3]

Other activities

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In 2016, Tanuwijaya represented Indonesia as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.[4] Tanuwijaya is one of the founders of Indonesia eCommerce Association (IdEA) and serves as a member of its supervisory board.[5]

Personal life

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He married Felicia H.W. in November 2015.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "Pemerintah Berikan Satyalancana Wira Karya kepada Pendiri Startup Unicorns".
  2. ^ Tim Viva (November 1, 2015). "Profil William Tanuwijaya Viva". Viva. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  3. ^ Rahman Indra (August 17, 2017). "Tokopedia Dapat Suntihkan Rp14,7 Triliun dari Alibaba". CNN. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  4. ^ World Economic Forum (January 1, 2017). "Young Global Leader Indonesia". WEForum. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  5. ^ "idEA - Indonesian E-Commerce Association". idEA. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
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