Everyone dreams of having a large-scale business with as little capital as possible. MPStore can now be said to be a big business with little capital.
MPStore Founder & CEO Abdul Muidz said he started MPStore on a small scale. MPStore began when Muidz worked at one of the largest telecommunications companies in Indonesia. Muidz worked while still actively studying at Trunojoyo University in 2007.
“In 2007-2015, I worked. “Starting with the position of Sales Canvaser who travels around 37 shops daily,” said Aad, Abdul Muidz’s nickname.
Aad shared his experience of growing MPStore in a Fridaypreneurship talkshow hosted by the Entrepreneurship Student Association “Artha” (IMK “Artha”) of SBM ITB at the Nemangkawi Auditorium Labtek XIX Freeport SBM ITB on Tuesday (31/10). The event was moderated by Erlangga Mahardhika, one of the SBM ITB lecturers. The Fridaypreneurship talkshow explored an exciting topic, “Big Dreams, Small Capital.”
Aad’s career progressed rapidly. He quickly advanced to the supervisor position and received a promotion to Branch Manager after three months. Six months later, he was promoted to Regional Sales Manager, eventually becoming Senior General Manager.
His master’s thesis focused on buyer behavior over the next seven years. He discovered that customers who initially preferred to use cash in offline stores eventually transitioned to online stores and started making payments using digital methods.
Recognizing this trend, Aad founded M-Pulsa in 2019 while still working at his previous company. M-Pulsa provides solutions for merchants and individual credit sellers to conduct faster, more cost-effective, and more efficient transactions. They extend credit services to shops across Indonesia. In 2022, M-Pulsa rebranded to MPStore.
Aad deliberately chose MSMEs as the target market because of their loyalty. If we can provide added value and benefits for MSMEs, they tend to be loyal to our services.
This differs from large-scale businesses, which tend to talk about the profits and losses they will get if they use our services. By attracting MSMEs, MPStore currently has 488,000 active outlet partners.
This success cannot be separated from Aad’s mitigation of failure. Failure is normal in business but must be mitigated. If you fail, keep looking for new opportunities. “If you are not married yet, just go all in. Don’t be afraid,” he added.
Aad admitted that he started the MPStore business while working for another company. He then executed his business idea using savings and bonus money from his old company. Since he first founded MPStore, he never wanted to accept funding. To date, he has not taken any dividends, only his salary as CEO. Profits continue to be turned into capital expenditure (Capex). “In 2020, one of our suppliers from Russia came to buy MPStore because he felt it was more profitable. “I don’t want to because I’m afraid I’ll make the wrong decision on calculating business valuation,” said Aad.
In 2021, Aad met with a VC who was interested in investing. However, MPStore is considered less fit for the market and has not yet achieved the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Since then, Aad has focused on targeting funding from the initial public offering (IPO).
He advised that it is better to seek funding through an IPO rather than VC or angel investors. Many VCs and angle investors leave suddenly when the company starts to fall, bringing the company down even more.
Aad emphasized the importance of understanding business valuation. That is why he recruited a chief financial officer (CFO) in 2023 to smooth out IPO plans. Finally, MPStore succeeded in IPOing on the development board, namely a group of companies with net assets of more than IDR 5 billion to IDR 100 billion. “So don’t be discouraged by businesses with small assets. Everyone can participate in IPO.” he added.
To new entrepreneurs, Aad reminded them not to be easily tempted to take profits. Based on his experience, his colleagues and he continue to turn profits into Capital Expenditure (Capex) so they can develop MPStore from assets of around millions to billions as it is today.
