Award honors young successors in family business with entrepreneurial achievements of their own.
MONACO – Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Indonesia’s Travelio, Christina Suriadjaja has accepted the prestigious EY NextGen Award 2017 in Monaco presented by William Lauder, Executive Chairman of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. He described Christina as “A very young but accomplished entrepreneur who demonstrates what is possible when you have the courage to challenge conventional ways in pursuit of your passions. Her success can be attributed to her enduring drive, entrepreneurial acumen and relentless commitment to making her vision of bringing something new to the market a reality.”
The ceremony took place during the four-day EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 Forum in front of prominent attendees such as Justin Rockefeller (Rockefeller Brothers), Mark Cuban (Serial Entrepreneur) and Atsushi Saito (Chairman of KKR). Christina also spoke on a Family Business Summit panel on the second day together with three other industry leaders discussing how they are meeting the challenges of current economic uncertainties and what keeps them awake at night.
The EY NextGen Award highlights the entrepreneurial achievements of the next generation business leaders. It provides young successors of family businesses with the opportunity to showcase their achievements either within or outside the family business. The Award’s judging panel consists of 7 different academics, peers, EY partners and global family business leaders.
Previously named by Forbes as one of Indonesia’s youngest top emerging business leaders and making the prestigious 30 under 30 list, Christina co-founded Travelio at the age of 23, pouring her life savings of $90,000 into the company, which is a short-term home rental provider for the Indonesian domestic and inbound market. The company has more than 3,000 inventories in 25 cities spread throughout the country.
“The award is a great testament and validation in support of the work we have done in Travelio and our team’s vision for the future. With this exposure, I hope to bring in more interest from the Western world to look into Indonesia’s opportunities and potential for growth” said Christina at the event.
Also in attendance at the EY event was Mr. Kay-Mok Ku, a Partner at Gobi Partners, which led a pre series A investment of $2 million into Travelio last year, via their GOBI MAVCAP ASEAN SuperSeed Fund, which is a joint fund the firm co-manages with MAVCAP (Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad).
“Successful entrepreneurship requires having the right mindset, unwavering perseverance and appropriate mentorship. Not all next generation members of family businesses are born with entrepreneurial mindsets, but if they are, the apprenticeship that their family business can potentially provide is a real boost to help launch them on their own entrepreneurial journey” Mok said. He added, “I have known Christina for over a year now and am very impressed with her strong work ethic, self-discipline and humility, so I am not surprised that she has won this global award. It stands as a testament, as well as a motivator, for her to continue to work hard and grow her venture to the next level.”
Without breaking the momentum, Travelio now has big-name partnerships with industry leaders such as TripAdvisor and Tuniu, and has also been promoted by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism as a go-to platform for short-term alternative accommodation rentals. The company aims to be the country’s top online alternative booking rental platform by end of 2017.
Photo caption: William Lauder, Executive Chairman of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. with Christina Suriadjaja.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
