GOTO's New Structure to Strengthen Governance and Business Sustainability

CORPORATE STRATEGIC - JAKARTA. PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GOTO) is entering a new era. Regeneration from founders to professional management as an effort to strengthen corporate governance in order to accelerate towards profitability and long-term growth.

The regeneration of GOTO with the formation of its new structure was officially announced on Wednesday (08/02/2023) as a preliminary explanation for the planned Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGMS) to be held on March 2, 2023.

AC Ventures’ Associate VP of Organization & Talent, Derisa Zahara, views GOTO's regeneration efforts through its new structure as significant progress. “It’s very positive because it’s in line with the practical needs of corporate governance that is more neat and strict when GoTo Group is now a public company,” she said on Thursday (9/2).

Moreover, according to her, as is also done by large companies in general, good and more comprehensive corporate governance practices will have a positive impact on the business as a whole. “Specifically, firstly, operating performance should be better because there is a strong allocation of resources and a more efficient management system,” she continued.

Secondly, Derisa continued, there will be better relationships with stakeholders from business partners, the government, and the community. “Third, a neater structure will also avoid the risk of crisis,” she explained.

Derisa, who is also known as an expert on scale-up talent and start-up leadership structures, sees a number of high profile people on the Board of Commissioners and GOTO management experts who will support the realization of better corporate governance practices.

“It seems that the GoTo Group has planned this well by paying attention to the composition and nomination of its newest leadership team, each of whom should bring functional experience and industry expertise to GoTo,” she explained.

As known, a number of big names are included in the candidates for the GOTO Board of Commissioners. Among them are Agus D.W Martowardojo, Marjorie Lao, Patrick S. Walujo, and Winato Kartono. They will assist the President Commissioner, Garibaldi Thohir, and Commissioner William Tanuwijaya, who will focus more on his role in this position.

The Board of Directors was also strengthened by proposing two names that are competent in their respective fields, Pablo Malay and Nila Marita. GOTO also added the position of president to its organizational structure to lead each business unit.

The on-demand business will be led by Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo. The e-Commerce business line will be led by Melissa Siska Juminto and the Financial Services business line will be led by Hans Patuwo. All three will report directly to GOTO President Director Andre Soelistyo and optimize synergies between all business units.

“I think the roles and responsibilities of each director and commissioner are quite clear. Especially the management, indeed for a business octopus as big as Goto, ‘mini CEOs’ like Ms. Catherine, Ms. Melissa, and Mr. Hans, in each business unit are needed to strengthen their respective business processes. Indeed, they also have very strong exposure and experience in their own business units,” she said.

Derisa continued, GOTO’s steps should be an example of best practices for beginner start-ups in Indonesia. “Where technology-based companies that go from ‘early stage’ start-ups established 10 years ago with all the limitations, process to ‘growth stage’ with a focus on expansion in various local and regional markets with many products or services presented,” Derisa suggested.

At the global level, similar steps to GOTO have been taken before by large companies such as Google, Microsoft, or Twitter.

Because that way, she said, this regeneration effort is the beginning of a mature company with a better governance system that will support the achievement of a sustainable commercial business.