Monir Azzouzi joins GoToko, GoTo Group’s B2B e-commerce platform arm, as part of the efforts to reinforce the group’s presence among small merchants across the country. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s former trade minister and a popular Youtube talkshow host Gita Wirjawan joined Hypefast as President Commissioner.
Monir Azzouzi joins GoToko
Monir Azzouzi joins GoToko, a joint venture between the fast-moving consumer goods company Unilever and GoTo Group, as board director and chief experience officer to lead its HR, IT infra, and corporate services.
Azzouzi spent more than two years in Gojek as vice president, a post where he led the human resource business partner function globally for engineers, product managers, data, among others.
In his new job, Azzouzi is tasked to hire thousands of professionals to support GoTo’s expansion.
“We’ve fine-tuned the business model and our expansion journey has finally begun. We aim to cover millions of underserved Warungs all over Indonesia in the next 12-24 months,” Azzouzi said on his LinkedIn post recently.
Traditional stalls, known locally in Indonesia as warungs, are understood as a new battleground for electronic payment and fintech plays. As the first point of contact to many unbanked Indonesians, warungs have helped financial inclusion efforts in the country.
The sector has attracted high-profile investments this year, including those from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who joined the latest funding round for Indonesian startup Ula through a family office.
Unilever and ride-hailing platform Gojek, part of GoTo Group, announced strategic cooperation that includes GoToko initiative in September last year in a bid to answer the need of 2.5 million small retailers across the archipelago. GoToko is a platform that connects small retailers to FMCG producers, ensuring an affordable and timely goods distribution.
According to Azzouzi, GoToko has partnered with global brands such as Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Wings, Danone, Coca Cola.
Indonesia’s former minister Gita Wirjawan joins Hypefast as commissioner
Indonesian brand aggregator Hypefast has welcomed Gita Wirjawan, a former minister, as president commissioner to bring his expertise and experience into the company, according to a statement.
Wirjawan began his public service as the chairman of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board in 2009 before becoming the minister of trade in 2011. Previously, he also worked for multinational companies including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
“We believe the experience and insights he has will further accelerate Hypefast’s role in developing local companies and brands within our portfolio as well as local brands that will join our ecosystem in the future,” Achmad Alkatiri, founder and CEO at Hypefast, said.
Hypefast claimed to have distributed Rp400 billion to support local brands in Indonesia. The company recently raised $19.5 million in a Series A funding round backed by Monk’s Hill Ventures, Jungle Ventures, Strive, Arkblu Capital, and Amand Ventures.