Mario Gaw, General Manager of Rumah123.com

With the fresh brand new look of Indonesia Expat, we will be regularly shining a light on successful businessmen in addition to women in Indonesia, Expatriate in addition to Indonesian, to discover more about their journey in addition to their business, in addition to what drives them personally.

We’re kicking off our series with an interview with Mario Gaw, General Manager of Rumah123.com.

Mario, firstly congratulations on your brand new title of General Manager of Rumah123.com, which you commenced in January This particular year. You are effectively the most senior person running the operations of Rumah123.com. What are your main responsibilities in addition to how large a team do you manage?
Thanks, Angela! My main responsibilities are to lead, manage in addition to represent the Indonesia business incorporating rumah123.com in addition to rumahdanproperti.com teams to achieve business goals, objectives in addition to financial in addition to non-financial KPIs. The current team in Indonesia can be about 80-85 people in addition to we are growing. I am very excited to be part of This particular growth!

How has the transition coming from VP of Pricing & Production at Lazada Indonesia to GM of Rumah123.com been, going coming from managing an e-commerce site to online property?
The transition has been interesting coming from day one. Despite the same nature of being online businesses, both run completely different business products. In a way, the online property classifieds business can be a simpler style, without the need to deal with physical inventory, logistics, etc., although nonetheless, This particular has been nothing short of challenges which are both exciting in addition to fulfilling! There are lots of brand new things to learn especially about the industry, market, in addition to its specific customers among various other things.

Can you please tell us a little bit about Rumah123.com in addition to the iProperty Group?
Rumah123.com was established in Jakarta in January 2007 with about 30 employees. The company was then owned by Saratoga Capital, which can be controlled by Edwin Soeryadjaya in addition to Sandiaga Uno. In 2011, the iProperty Group, an ASX-listed company based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which owns leading online property portal websites in Asia, acquired Rumah123.com after identifying Indonesia as a natural growth market for its business. Since the iProperty Group acquired Rumah123.com, This particular has become home to the largest number of property listings in addition to property agents in Indonesia with numbers far exceeding its competitors.

The company continues to see significant growth in all key metrics, a clear indication which Rumah123.com can be continuing to meet the needs of both its consumers in addition to customers. We provide consumers with the most comprehensive in addition to up-to-date property related news in addition to the best property search experience. We are also committed in being the partner of choice for our customers by working together with them to grow their business.

To date, Rumah123.com has more than 247,000 listings in addition to over 8,000 property agents. On a monthly basis, there are over 1.8 million visitors which turn to Rumah123.com to search for their dream home or next property investment, which in turn results within the portal delivering more than 485,000 leads to its agents.

What motivated you to take on the position of GM of Rumah123.com? What can be your ultimate goal in This particular position?
I was approached by the iProperty Group to discuss a possible role which I could play in theirRumah123.com business in order to take This particular to the next level. They have clearly determined which Indonesia was an important market for them in addition to which a local General Manager was a key part of their strategy in order to take the business further.

This particular was important for them to find the right candidate. Their seriousness was shown through my recruitment process where I not only met Shaun Di Gregorio, CEO of iProperty Group, although also Patrick Grove, Chairman of iProperty Group & CEO of the Catcha Group. I was impressed by them in addition to was motivated to take on This particular brand new, big in addition to exciting challenge of pushing the business forward in addition to producing a significant impact on how Indonesians search for the right properties for them to own, live in or invest.

My ultimate goal as General Manager of Rumah123.com can be to ensure which Rumah123.com continues to be the leader in its market by providing the best property hunting experience possible. At the same time, to become the best qualified leads generation tool for customers in addition to partners.

What challenges do you in addition to have you faced within the online industry in Indonesia? What are your thoughts in internet connection speeds in relation to their prices? How in addition to when will This particular improve?
Although the online industry has seen tremendous growth within the past few years, fuelled by the ever-increasing internet penetration in Indonesia, This particular can be still early in addition to young. There can be still a lot of work to be done in improving internet accessibility, speed, costs in addition to education. Internet speed compared to its costs can be still quite low although on the bright side, improvements are definitely coming.

We recently saw the launch of a brand new special mobile device named Bolt offering 4G mobile internet service in Indonesia in addition to First Media, a local ISP, quietly rolled out its 4G internet speed service offering up to 100 Mbps starting in Jakarta last month. I am confident in addition to hopeful which This particular will continue to improve even faster as consumer demands for better services grows.

Let’s talk business. How much can be the website Rumah123.com worth? What are your projections for 2014?
As rumah123.com operates under the iProperty Group, the company recently released its 4C statement, reporting growth in cash collections driving a car a net operating cash flow result of A$0.16 m for the quarter. Cash receipts coming from operating activities for the period amounted to A$5.4 m, an increase of 31% coming from the corresponding period in 2012.

We have big plans for 2014. We are geared for a fantastic growth in addition to I am confident which our talented team will continue to break brand new grounds. We will continue to focus on providing innovative advertising solutions to property developers in addition to property agents. This particular can be also our commitment to provide consumers searching for property with the best possible user experience, driven by innovation having a ‘mobile first’ focus.

What can be your business style – where can be the bulk of revenue generated?
Our business style can be primarily based in paid advertising. We consider ourselves an online media company in addition to we generate our revenues coming from listing fees, premium listings, online banners in addition to marketing solutions, in addition to various other secondary products such as property expos in addition to print media.

How do you gather all the information to populate your website? How many property agents do you work with? Do you work with private owners too?
We have sales teams which focus on working with property agents in addition to property developers on getting their listings or offerings online as quickly as possible. We have more than 8,000 property agents actively listing on our site. Yes, private owners are also welcomed on our site.

Back to more personal questions, you studied Computer Science at Simon Fraser University in Canada in addition to lived in Canada for nearly 10 years. What was the deciding factor to return to Indonesia?
Vancouver, BC, can be a very beautiful city in addition to place to live in. This particular was very hard for me in addition to my wife to leave behind. However, I was determined to return to Indonesia For just two primary reasons. First was to be closer to parts of my family still residing in Indonesia. Second was which I was reading a lot of news on how Asia in addition to especially Indonesia in addition to various other countries within the Southeast Asia region was experiencing strong economic growth in recent years. Being Indonesian myself, I was curious enough about This particular in addition to was willing to move back in addition to try to find opportunities where I would certainly be able to use what I’ve learned overseas to benefit the Indonesian economy in addition to people.

You are concerned about social issues such as poverty in addition to disaster relief. What social projects are you involved in in addition to do you think This particular’s important to get involved with charity work?
Absolutely. I believe we should all try to do our part in giving back to our community in addition to to those who need help. I personally do not think I have done enough on any specific social issues, however I have always been interested in various initiatives related to building schools in addition to/or churches to remote parts of Indonesia. Helping kids attain proper education would certainly equip them with the right tools to be able to lift themselves in addition to family out of poverty within the future.

What motivates you to go to work every morning?
There are many things which motivate me to go to work every morning, although if I had to narrow This particular to just one thing, This particular would certainly be family. When I was growing up, I was constantly reminded by my parents to make them actually proud one day. Even though I knew which my mum was already proud of me as I went to college, eventually graduated in addition to received my first pay cheque coming from my first job, my dad did not contain the opportunity to see any of This particular. He had passed away when I was 14 years old due to health reasons.

Since then, I have made This particular my personal goal to work hard in addition to give my best in everything which I do. I want to see where life takes me by constantly challenging in addition to improving myself. Nowadays, my lovely supportive wife can be another source of motivation of mine.