o amount of
reading can
prepare you
for life, much
less to become
a leader. And
so it was that when she joined GO-JEK in
2015, nothing could have prepared Dayu Dara
Permata for the onslaught of challenges she
would face—but, equally, nothing compares
to her pride today.
Upon graduating from the Bandung
Institute of Technology with first-class
honours in industrial engineering, Dara
jumpstarted her career as an intern in large
consulting firms before finally landing a
position as a consultant at McKinsey &
Company in 2011. At the time, the lithe
businesswoman would have only left her
post as a consultant at McKinsey for a role
in a larger company. However, it was fate
that brought GO-JEK CEO and McKinsey
& Company colleague Nadiem Makarim to
her and he finally convinced her to join his
passion project.
“I never thought that joining a start-up
would be a way to create social impact, but
the idea that we can leverage technology to do
so appealed to me” she explains. “We get to
work with passionate entrepreneurial spirits
whose collective aim is to empower SMEs by
connecting them to millions of customers—
where else can you do that?” she beams.
Five years ago, Dara never thought that she
could be an entrepreneur herself. But after co-
founding GO-LIFE and pouring her heart into
it, she can finally claim to be one. “Looking
back, I would have been content to have had
a meaningful career, manage 10-20 people,
and have a side project by the time I was 30.
Thankfully, I chose to take the more daring
and uncertain route,” she adds.
Though she got to explore business
functions on a high strategic level at her
previous company, the Senior Vice President
of GO-JEK and Co-founder of GO-LIFE
admits that there was a plethora of learning
opportunities she only got to explore upon
joining the start-up. She explains: “My current
role challenges me to work on the tactical,
executional, and operational levels. Instead
of ideating solutions, we have to actually
materialise them and implement them.”
Aside from the different approach she
had to adopt, Dara had to find out first-hand
what it meant to be a leader. The curious
entrepreneur might be an avid reader who
attended countless leadership workshops,
but she only learned the importance of never
giving up for the sake of her GO-JEK team.
Having to deal with such human complexities,
Dara has found the best way to manage a team
is to become a trusting, meritocratic leader.
“Don’t be surprised if you see a 22-year-old
managing a group of 80 people and much less
if that group consists of a 70-year-old. We
see no difference in age, colour, or gender.
As long as we believe in their ability and
trust them to meet the KPI, nothing else
matters.” This kind of warm culture is exactly
what draws the right people to GO-JEK, the
creative and adventurous talents that look to
use the least amount of effort to create the
maximum impact.
Dara’s face has become one of the beacons
of hope for Indonesia’s start-up world. With
GO-JEK becoming Indonesia’s first decacorn
and having expanded to six countries, her
career has never peaked as much as right now.
As for balancing it with her personal life, she
tells Indonesia Tatler: “I want to walk down
the path of dynamic goals, to know what I
want to achieve at the right time. Now it’s
tilting towards work, but maybe 2-3 years
down the lane, I might want to focus on
personal goals. It’s all about timeframes.” For
now, as she heads towards a brighter future
with a powerhouse in hand, Dara continues to
develop the next set of leaders that can create
much bigger impact than we ever will.DAYU DARA PERMATA