BUKALAPAK

Bukalapak is an online marketplace that enables small and medium enterprises to utilize essential online services and has expanded to support smaller traditional family-owned businesses throughout Indonesia . Positioning itself as a facilitator of services between supplier and customer , Bukalapak has achieved extraordinary success by actually helping small businesses thrive , rather than bulldozering through them , large corporation style .

Tjahja , who has led the marketing efforts of the company and helped compile its strategy , is understandably proud of Bukalapak ’ s success . But his background , which started off in software engineering , seems a far stretch from his current role .

During his 12-year-stint in Australia , the self-confessed data whizz moved into the banking sector and became a data scientist , where he honed his skills on the cutting-edge of cybersecurity . examining fraud detection , money laundering , and criminal behaviors .

Now , as the leader of a team that examines the business relationship between data and marketing , he says his time spent in cybercrime has been incredibly valuable .

“ When I worked at Commonwealth Bank in Australia , I led a data science team that specializes in fraud detection , which is very far from my current role . How does a guy that used to manage data science teams to detect credit card fraud , money laundering end up working in marketing ? Well , it ’ s really all about data and behavioral science ,” he says .

“ As the VP of growth and data in Bukalapak , there are two parts to my role . There is the growth part and the data part - and traditionally , these disciplines are not

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