“Just start, and fail.” That’s the recipe for a successful business, according to Novrizal Pratama. Rizal, an alumnus of SBM ITB, is currently the Managing Director of Akaraya Creative Collaborator, Co-founder of Indonesia Kuat, Creative Head of Soboyow, Co-founder of Klinik Kecil, and Lead Marketing of Soulcops.
Rizal said there is no magic for business to succeed. An entrepreneur needs to keep looking for solutions with creativity and innovation.
He said in a guest lecture entitled “My Experience in Starting a Business” in the Introduction to Business and Management course, intended for SBM ITB on Tahap Persiapan Bersama (TPB) students on Tuesday (30/11/ 2021).
In building a business, Rizal reminded the importance of the mental readiness of entrepreneurs in facing the worst possible scenario. “One thing that are natural in building a business is the rejection from both the surrounding people and the community,” he said.
Despite graduating from business school, Rizal feels that the experience of going directly into the business will be very different from what is taught in the classroom. His journey in the twists and turns of business taught him many things. Nevertheless, Rizal emphasized that the young generation should not be afraid of starting a business.
As a tip for novice businessmen, Rizal does not deny the role of a supportive environment to support us moving forward. He suggests choosing friends who can help us improve. In addition, he also advised us to instill the mindset that doing business is easy. “Especially in this digital era, we can build our business anytime, anywhere, and it can be started by ourselves,” he revealed.
It is not surprising that Novrizal was invited to share his business experiences. The multi-field businesses show his expertise in doing business.
In 2010, Rizal started a business in the mining world, focusing on locations in West Java. He admitted that he did not start the business smoothly. On the other hand, he experienced many rejection and difficulties in the early days of doing business. In 2012, he established Akaraya Creative Collaborator, a marketing consulting firm based in South Jakarta. The business has survived and thrived and can achieve an annual turnover of $1 million, with clients consisting of various domestic and international large companies.
In addition, Rizal also expanded his business to various other lines. He founded Klinik Kecil, an educational platform in the field of parenting. The platform already has more than 40 thousand users. Not only doing business for profit alone, but Rizal also participates in building social entrepreneurship. Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic that hit Indonesia in 2020, he founded Indonesia Kuat, a solidarity-based social service platform to help those affected by the pandemic.
His ability in doing business has also made him trusted to be the Creative Head of Soboyow. This pop-culture platform shows different perspectives and fresh stories through fashion products. Currently, he acts as the Lead Marketing of Soulcops, developing encrypted trading card game technology based on non-fungible tokens (NFT). Furthermore, his success in various businesses in the creative industry has made him one of the leaders in the formation of the Jakarta Creative Economy Committee (Ekraf) as a formal institution that will create more creative industry entrepreneurs in the future.
