Bukalapak co-founder Nugroho Herucahyono exits after 10 years

Indonesian eCommerce firm Bukalapak’s co-founder and chief technical officer Nugroho Herucahyono has left the company. According to his LinkedIn, he left in March 2020, after having been with the unicorn-status company for approximately 10 years. Marketing Interactive has reached out to Bukalapak on his replacement, and Herucahyono on his next move. 

Herucahyono co-founded the company in 2009, alongside Fajrin Rasyid, who also helms the role of president, and Achmad Zaky who has taken on a counselor role within the company. Prior to starting up one of the biggest eCommerce platform in Indonesia, Herucahyono was a chief technology officer at digital agency Suitmedia for more than a year. He also has experience as a programmer in his early career life. 

The eCommerce giant was started with personal enthusiasm to create a positive impact for micro, small & medium enterprise and has been doubling down on its initiatives to aiding these small firms. According to Bukalapak, it works with more than two million mom-and-pop kiosks and agents throughout Indonesia. Last year, it partnered Google to drive digitalisation among Indonesian micro SMEs or more commonly known as warungs in the country. The collaboration will help warungs on Mitra Bukalapak onboard to Google My Business, and appear in Google search results to gain more traction and exposure. To date, some 95,000 warungs have created their Google My Business profiles in the Mitra Bukalapak App. 

The company also hired former Facebook exec Haswar Hafid as VP of advertising. In this newly created role, Hafid oversees Bukalapak's marketing solution and advertising model, and ensuring it reaches brands of all sizes, including micro SMEs. He also looks at ways adtech partners can embed their solutions into the platform. Other responsibilities include building commercial relationships and working closely with agencies to scale offerings in the market, as well as setting up advertising growth roadmap to develop a sustainable and scalable advertising revenue stream.

In addition, in September last year, Bukalapak refuted media reports of mass layoffs, calling them "incorrect". The spokesperson told Marketing Interactive then that less than 10% of Bukalapak's over 2,500 employees were impacted by changes in the company, which includes "sunsetting" of some products and programmes. She said that those offerings are not the firm's core strength and not relevant to Indonesia market, and therefore will not be its focus. "These are products and programmes where we can create bigger impact by forging synergies and collaborations with different companies, including our sister companies in Emtek Group, in areas such as smart retail and Internet of Things," she added.

Enjoying the article? Share your thoughts with us journos in the newsroom and be part of our Instagram community to catch the behind the scenes action, industry updates and creative inspiration!