Ralali.com’s Chairman Joseph Aditya reveals how they want to exponentially grow Indonesia’s economy through empowering MSMEs

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID19 times? 

Joseph Aditya: I‘m doing good while also taking care of my family in facing current new normal activities

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded or joined Ralali.com

Joseph Aditya: I am the chairman of Ralali.com, a B2B platform in Indonesia that focus is how to serve MSMEs in Indonesia as the trusted first hand-supplier for sourcing, scaling, and sustaining their business through digital platforms, not to mention that end to end process including logistic, warehouse, agent to promote, digital payment that in the end to make MSMEs grow their business.

Formerly, I was working as a sales representative for a company who provided businesses with test equipment and measuring devices, spending my time dealing with clients on a daily basis for the MRO industry. This experience led me to dig deeper into procurement from ins and out, and eventually my career journey brought me to be a managing director.

However, there are critical pain points that need to be addressed for B2B users. Tendering or competitive bidding is prone to corruption. The process need to be improved in order to acquire efficiency and transparency in the business process. While reforming the company, I’ve been working for, at the same time I found the idea to build Ralali.com in 2013. I do believe that we could help Indonesia’s economy grow together exponentially, by starting empowering MSMEs. A little disruption with no intention to divide, but to enlarge the pie instead. 

How does Ralali.com innovate? 

Joseph Aditya: As our vision to help MSMEs to grow their business, we started from marketplace B2B to provide them from the first hand supplier, as it goes we started to create some innovation from logistic RADAR, warehouses RBIZ, also BIG agent to help them to promote their goods, and not to mention the other main important feature which is digital payment to make all transaction easier. Also during this pandemic, we created our home brand, a premium quality yet affordable price 3 mask ply which is Primero Mask with a goal to make Indonesia safer.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business and how are you coping?

Joseph Aditya: This outbreak comes all of a sudden impacting business on so many levels. We seem to have no precise role model who we can look up to nor to imitate. Moreover, uncertainty becomes inevitable. But even though there’s no such thing as one silver bullet to handle this situation, struggle is the only thing that comes to my mind. I reach out the data of consumer behavior during this time.

By recognizing some insights, we strive to undergo a business model to keep being aligned with customer behavior shifting in acquiring needs. Taking food supplies as an example. In this pandemic era, people’s needs in food don’t change, their behavior does. Earlier, many people chose to buy food offline. Nevertheless, to anticipate the spread of the virus, many people prefer to stay at home and buy food via online. 

Did you have to make difficult choices and what are the lessons learned?

Joseph Aditya: Every business has to adapt and even find no way to keep business as usual, so are we. There are some business lines that we used to lean on, but currently seem irrelevant. We cut it down and try to find the new one. We also couldn’t bear to lay-off almost 70% of our employees to reduce our cost and drive Ralali.com to run through the rest of this year.

It isn’t easy. Never been easy, but being an entrepreneur -especially in the current situation)- means you have to endure to the fullest within this chain of uncertainties. That’s why we need to be agile enough from the very first time joining a startup. Also  I am blessed to have a support system within Ralali.com and my family.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety, how do you project yourself and Ralali.com in the future ?

Joseph Aditya: I believe what proverb said: “Happiness is when what you think, you say and you do are in the harmony”, I believe that there is still a silver lining in this cloudy moment but what we need is to focus to our mission to help business owner sustaining their business. In Q3 and Q4 we are focusing serve them and be their partner and make Ralali be the biggest B2B platform in Indonesia or maybe South East Asia

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Joseph Aditya: To be honest, there’s no player like us because we are a full stack of B2B platform, maybe indirectly competitors such as offline channel or B2C player that trying to switch or penetrate to B2B.

Your website?

Ralali.com