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What is it like to lead the largest SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia?
1. How long have you been with Funding Societies | Modalku?
I co-founded the company with Reynold Wijaya more than seven years ago when we were in Harvard Business School.
2. What is your professional background?
I was a consulting professional at KKR, McKinsey, and Accenture prior to establishing Funding Societies | Modalku.
3. What are the 2 most important skills required in your daily work?
The top 2 skills would be the ability to perform Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive (MECE) thinking, and SCQA storytelling communication. SCQA tells a story with Situation, Complication, Question, and Answer like a movie.
4. What do you like most about your team?
Having grown, studied and worked with the best from all over the world, I know sometimes, we only get one shot. Hence I find myself demanding of myself and the team, the success of everyone. There are many things that I appreciate about our team, but what I appreciate the most is that many strive to #growrelentlessly in their professional capacities, which is one of our core values at Funding Societies | Modalku.
5. 3 words to describe your leadership style
The core values of the company reflect the style of the founders. My leadership style is well incorporated into our core values since 2016: #focusonimpact, #testmeasureact, #enableteamwork, and disable politics.
6. How are you different inside and outside of work?
I take on different sides inside and outside of work. At work, I’ve to stand in front of the team, customers, partners, investors and stakeholders, often back-to-back. Outside of work, I’m introverted and spontaneous. So by MBTI, I’m an ENTJ at work and INTP outside of work.
At Work:
At the Singapore Fintech Festival 2022
At the Founders Forum that convened Asia’s most inspiring entrepreneurs, global leaders, CEOs, investors and thought leaders, with a global audience interested in the fast-growth Asian startup ecosystem.
Outside of Work:
Left to right: Wong Kah Meng (Group Chief Operating Officer), Kelvin, Nihit (Group Chief Product Officer) in India for Ishan’s (our CTO) wedding. Here, they’re at Ram Jhula in Rishikesh, a holy place known for yoga and meditation.
7. What do you look forward to at work the most?
To spend time with the team after conquering an impossible challenge.
8. How would you describe your time at Funding Societies so far in 3 words?
Breakthrough the impossible as/for underdogs.
9. What do you love about Funding Societies’ work culture?
Because I worked with my team to build a company that we would like to work in, we ensured that the company’s values reflected what we wanted to see and be a part of.
10. What’s your favourite piece of career advice?
I read a lot. Some time back, I came across this quote by Howard Thurman: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive”.
11. How would you explain what you do to a 5 year old?
I help SMEs to grow.
12. 3 emojis to represent what you do at Funding Societies
💪🏻
👌🏻
13. Describe a typical work day for you, from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed.
I take an average of 10 meetings a day, including internal and external ones. Most of my time is spent solving the toughest problems left by the team, but I also make time to read and learn voraciously in order to be ahead of the market.
14. What is one most important career lesson you would pass down to your team or the next batch of leaders?
Always think 2 steps ahead.
Like what you read about our team? If you’re interested in a FinTech career with us, check out our careers page below!
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