Nadiem Makarim, the founder and CEO of Indonesian ride-hailing company Gojek, has resigned to join the Indonesian cabinet. The surprise origination comes in the wake of President Joko Widodo swearing-in as the Indonesian president for the second time on Sunday. Speculation in the local press suggests that Makarim will head the newly-created ministry for digital economy.
Gojek was founded in 2010 as a two-wheeler hailing service but has since expanded into sectors such as mobile payments, food delivery and online shopping. Besides the digital business background, Makarim also has a political background. His grandfather was an Indonesian independence hero, while his parents have also been politically active.
"I feel it's an honour for me that I have been asked to join the cabinet... I am very happy to be here today because it shows that we are ready for innovation and to move forward," Makarim told reporters at the state palace on Monday, Deasstreet Asia reported.
Under Makarim, Gojek grew to become Indonesia's first decacorn, or a startup valued at $10 billion or more. As of last year, Gojek transactions done by Gojek had crossed the $9 billion mark across all its markets, the report said.
Besides Indonesia, Gojek has a significant footprint in countries like Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"We are very proud that our founder will play such a significant role in moving Indonesia onto the global stage. It is unprecedented for a passionate local founder's vision to be recognized as a model that can be up-scaled to help the development of an entire country, a Gojek spokesperson told the TechChrunch. He also said Gojek President Andre Soelistyo and co-founder Kevin Aluwi will take over as co-CEOs.
Meanwhile, reports from Jakarta said Jokowi may not announce new cabinet appointments until Wednesday. "On Wednesday, we are all invited to be announced to all of you, we were called one by one today," Mahfud MD, a former head of the constitutional court said, according to the Channel News Asia.
