Nadiem was born in Singapore on 4 July 1984, to Nono Anwar Makarim and Atika Algadri. His father is an activist, lawyer and is of Minangkabau-Arabian descent. His maternal grandfather is Hamid Algadri. He has two sisters, Hana Makarim, and Rayya Makarim known as a filmmaker. He married Franka Franklin and they have two daughters.
After graduating from Harvard University with an MBA, Nadiem decided to come back home to Indonesia and worked at McKinsey & Co. Nadiem worked as a McKinsey consultant for 3 years.
Zalora">Zalora Group">Zalora Indonesia (2011–2012)
Nadiem became Co-Founder and Managing Director for Zalora Indonesia in 2011. In 2012, Nadiem made the decision to leave Zalora to focus on building his own startup, including Gojek, which at that time had 15 employees and 450 drivers. He claims to have learned enough from Zalora, which was his main goal in accepting the position in the first place. In Zalora, Nadiem had the chance to build a mega startup and work with some of the best talents across the region.
Kartuku (2013–2014)
After leaving Zalora and while developing Gojek, Nadiem also worked as a chief innovation officer of Kartuku. In the early days, Kartuku didn't have any competition in cashless payment solutions in Indonesia. Kartuku was then acquired by Gojek to strengthen GoPay.
In 2010 Nadiem created Gojek, which is today a decacorn company with valuation over US$10 billion. Gojek was first established as a call centre, offering only courier delivery and two-wheeled ride-hailing services. Today, Gojek has transformed into a super app, providing more than 20 services, ranging from transportation, food delivery, groceries, massage, house cleaning, logistics to a cashless digital payment platform called GoPay. Makarim often uses a motorcycle taxi, known in Indonesia as an ojek. He saw this as a business opportunity and developed it into Gojek, which is founded in 2010. Gojek was well received, and eventually received US$1,3 billion funding from investors, in a 2018-round led by Alphabet Inc's Google, JD.com Inc and Tencent Holdings. It thereby became the first Indonesian Unicorn. By 2019, the firm was worth up to US$10 billion
Awards
In 2016, Nadiem received te The Straits Times Asian of the Year award, and was the first Indonesian to receive the award since it was first established in 2012. The Asian of the Year award is given to individuals or groups that have significantly contributed to increasing the welfare of people in their countries or Asia at large. Some previous recipients include the founder of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Myanmar President Thein Sein. The award came as the company focuses on increasing the welfare of the informal sector. At the same time, it can help provide a livelihood for Indonesians by changing the traditional business market and model.
In 2018, Nadiem made it to Bloomberg 50 annual list of innovators. Bloomberg assessed that there was no other technology platform that changed the lives of Indonesian as fast and as integrated as Gojek. Gojek app was launched in 2015 with a focus on two-wheel ride-hailing and developed into a platform to pay bills, order food, and book cleaning services. “The Bloomberg 50” includes prominent figures in the business, entertainment, finance, politics, science and technology world. Nadiem's track record of expanding Gojek to the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam led him to be included in the Bloomberg 50 list alongside Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Spotify Founder Daniel Ek, pop star Taylor Swift and K-Pop idol group BTS.
In May 2019, Nadiem was the youngest figure from Asia to receive the 24th Nikkei Asia Prize for economic and business innovation. Nadiem doubled the prize to Rp 860 million and donated the amount as education scholarship for Gojek drivers’ children. The Nikkei Asia Prize is given to individuals or organisations that contribute to the development of Asia. This award was given to Nadiem due to Gojek's contributions to the economy, easing customer's daily life, and increasing the income of their partners. Gojek contributed Rp 55 trillion towards the Indonesian economy, with the average income of GoRide and GoCar partners increasing by 45% and 42% after joining Gojek, and culinary SMEs transaction volume increasing 55% after becoming GoFood merchant.
In 2017, Gojek made it to Fortune’s Top 50 Companies That Changed The World, ranking 17th worldwide. In 2019 Gojek once again made it to Fortune's Top 50 Companies That Changed The World, and was the only Southeast Asian company to have been included twice in the list - this year leaping to number 11 out of 52 global companies.
In November 2019, Nadiem is the only Indonesian to be included on 100 Next list for Leaders category by the Time magazine. Time's 100 Next list this year is to recognize the influence of rising stars who are shaping the future in their respective fields.
International organizations
With Melinda Gates and the Minister of Finance of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani, Nadiem served as one of the commissioners of for Technology and Inclusive Development that focuses on helping developing countries to adapt with various new digital innovations that change the working culture.
