Leiden University Alumni Gathering on Saturday, 14 March 2020 at Rumah Kembang Kencur, Jakarta.
IKALI invited world-class business figures to share success tips and career story to add more value to the gathering event. In total, 24 alumni coming from Australia, Bandung and Jakarta attended the event and felt the sharing session was engaging, yet inspiring.
Mr. Rizal Gozali, Managing Director of Credit Suisse in the Investment Banking and Capital Markets and Country Head Indonesia, emphasized the value of discipline and hardworking, listening and understanding, and being confident yet open-minded.
Holding a degree in Industrial Engineering, working as a banker was a challenge at first as he needed to catch up with colleagues equipped with economic degree and fluent in technical work such as financial projection and economic modelling. Yet, he maintained his career objective, maintain connectivity with client base and improving capability. Over the years, he not only managed Indonesia’s portfolio, but also Southeast Asia’s portfolio, such as Malaysia, Viet Nam and Singapore.
He reminded us to take a step back when work becomes boring. From time to time, he personally invested in companies, and compare non-professional and personal experiences that forms a bigger picture. Seeing from different angles, it becomes clearer that there are more things to enjoy from work, especially in his capacity to help companies perform better and seeing others succeed, which brings joy to him. Mr. Rizal was casual and relevant, yet he added insights and case studies that allow alumni understand better and relate to his stories.
Mr. Sugianto Osman, Partner at Allen & Overy Jakarta, shared his unexpected journey pursuing career as a lawyer, and receiving scholarship to pursue master degree at the Leiden University. He did his best and preserved to develop expertise by referring to Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours rule. When asked, he took opportunity, even in time of crisis.
Previously, Mr. Sugi handled technology and telecommunications issue, and now involved in IT companies’ transaction; he regarded these experiences as asset and potential branding. He shared story of a junior quitting law firm to start his own start-up for equity crowd funding. He had advised that Indonesia was not ready at the time. After 6 months, the junior pivoted and turn the start-up into peer to peer lending, a more sustainable model. He suggested fellow alumni to celebrate small successes along the way and preserved a career path that leads to the right direction.
Afterwards, Program Team shared upcoming activities, such as: museum hopping, sharing session & mentoring network, pre-departure briefing for new students and preparing election for new chairperson. Afterwards, alumni continued chatting and enjoyed the meals being served.
For the record, strict measures were being taken to protect alumni from the spread of COVID-19, such as recording the temperature of each attendees at the time of registration, providing and encouraging frequent use of hand sanitizer, and no hand-shake.
We thank everyone for coming to the Alumni Gathering. We also welcome all Leiden University alumni to contribute and participate in our events!
Special thanks to Mr. Aji Kusumo Ardi for the documentary video. Click here to watch it on Youtube.
Here are the snapshots of the events!
