Benny Tjoeng: Optimizing '3 Cs' to achieve balance in life

The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Although he is a top executive of a big company, modesty and persistence are very much apparent. Benny Tjong wears a simple a shirt and talks openly about his hard life.

"Even when I was in university, I still helped out at my parents' business," said Benny, president director of Astra Sedaya Finance (Astra Companies, ACC) reminiscing.

Benny, who is better known as BTJ, is the child of shoe vendors. He was born on Aug. 15, 1958 in Tanjung Karang, Lampung, and is used to hard work. For example, he use to work at his parents' shoe shop after school.

Benny was taught to work hard and to follow his father's principle of Che Ai to ensure that he had a rich life. Che Ai means "self love", but not in the sense of being selfish; rather it means accepting yourself as you are. "If you can accept yourself as you are, it is easier to love and accept other people. This love, therefore, inspires us with enthusiasm and prompts us to work hard to achieve our goal in life," the soft spoken man said.

Benny, who loves Padang food, moved to Jakarta in 1979 and took up accounting at Jayabaya Accounting Academy. Then he joined the extension class at the School of Economics of the University of Indonesia. After completing his studies there, he joined the office of Public Accountant Prasetyo Utomo & Co (now Arthur Andersen Consulting) as an auditor.

In 1989, he lost all his belongings in a fire that razed his house to the ground. "All I had left were the clothes I was wearing. And so the next day I went to work in the same clothes," he said. One of his clients learned of his misfortune and compassionately offered Benny financial help, but he rejected it. "According to the auditors' code of conduct, an auditor must not receive any funds from a client under any circumstances," he said.

Benny's strong sense of professionalism attracted the attention of Frans Y. Santosa, who was then finance director of PT United Tractors Tbk (UT), a company that was also one of Benny's clients. Frans told Benny to contact him if he wanted to move to a new company. After some time, Benny, who felt he had spent enough time working at a public accountant's company, contacted Frans. "From the very beginning, I planned to spend no more than five years working at a public accountant's office. Finally, I contacted Pak Frans. Negotiations took only 15 minutes and then I joined his company," he said. Benny has been working for companies under the Astra Group since 1990.

At first, Benny's job at United Tractors was always related to accounting, having joined United Tractors as its accounting manager. Three years later, he was transferred to Astra International Tbk (AI) as the accounting division chief.

His career continued to rise. Later Benny became control director of PT Astra Graphia, where he stayed only for a year. Then Benny was transferred to PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk (AAL) as its finance director. In 2000, he was promoted to the position of AAL's vice president director. In this position, he had to deal with things beyond his educational background. His responsibilities also varied and encompassed marketing and human resources.

However, it was this responsibility that made him grow as an individual and led him along the path of an executive. His skills became more comprehensive and took him higher up the career ladder. "At first, we must be a specialist, but the higher we climb the career ladder, we should be a generalist," he stressed.

After leaving AAL, he went on to assume a higher position. In May 2006, Benny was named the chairman of PT Astra Sedaya Finance, better known as Astra Credit Companies (ACC), an automobile leasing company.

It is Benny's philosophy to have a strong will to learn things and to finish what is at hand. That's why he is often dubbed a trouble shooter. Benny's presence at ACC is indeed expected to bring about change for the better and he has gladly accepted the challenge.

Benny is indeed capable of adapting with his working environment. Still, does working in an accounting office, an agro-industrial firm and a leasing company have any common traits? "When you are at the top level, I don't think anything of significance is common. Perhaps because in this position you deal more with policies, not with technical matters," he said.

Achieving the position of president director would indeed give most people a deep sense of satisfaction. In the case of Benny, he is happy to see the people around him grow and develop. He said the biggest difficulty in achieving a maximum result was effective communication. "This may be communication with subordinates or with colleagues. The most important thing is that as a leader you must have a clear vision about where to take this company. If you have a very clear vision, but you cannot communicate it, the result won't be good," he said.

Benny believes in the 3 Cs, that is, Character, Competency and Calling. These three elements, he said, are necessary to reach equilibrium in life. "So we must be able to harmoniously combine the three Cs. If you have only character and competency, you will be someone without a goal. Meanwhile, if you have just character and calling, you will turn into a dreamer. And the most dangerous of all is if you have only competency and calling as you will then become someone who will justify any means to reach an end," he said.

Benny said that at first he had not introduced drastic changes at ACC. He got the impression that the company lacked mutual understanding, an indication that communication was not optimal. Therefore, the first thing he did was take steps to ensure that communication ran smoothly.

Benny's idea of communication covered all levels, such as shareholders, dealers -- particularly Astra Sales Operations -- the internal side of ACC itself and the board of directors, and communication between superiors and subordinates in Jakarta and the branch offices.

The 2007 leadership meeting of ACC has agreed on the target that ACC has to reach in 2007, which includes financial growth of Rp 8.5 trillion, up by 30 percent over what was achieved in 2006.

To reach this target, there are several things to do. First, achieve "operational excellence", which covers improvement in a business process and decentralization so that the process of extending loans will be speedier and better in quality. Second, improve attitudes and competency of ACC personnel through training and assignment. Third, improve the integrated IT system. Fourth, ensure a between growth and risks.

Fifth, actively undertake "ACC Market Expansion" with a focus on improving the competency of ACC personnel in managing the secondhand car and commercial cars (pickup) businesses. Sixth, intensify cooperation with direct or indirect dealers of Astra-made automobiles as well as automobiles not made by Astra. (Iwan Suci Jatmiko)

Helmy Yahya: Blending business and entertainment sector

The Jakarta Post
March 01, 2007

This celebrity-cum-businessman has had a varied career. One of his most prominent professions is producer of television programs, particularly quizzes, and, lately, reality shows.

However, his involvement in business has also earned him a lot of respect, as evident in the fact that he was once named a finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year. The event was organized by Ernst & Young, a leading accounting firm.

"I was not the winner but was in the 15 best and this was an outstanding achievement. I thought my company was the smallest of the 15 companies named finalists," said Helmy in his office in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

His achievement is attributable to his perseverance in life. A graduate of the State Institute of Accounting (STAN) Jakarta and University of Miami, Florida, U.S., he is astute at seizing opportunities. He spent 10 years assisting and, therefore, learning from Ani Sumadi, the televisionProgram Queen".

For Helmy, Ani Sumadi was his "teacher" in entertainment and also in how to become a true entrepreneur.learned from her how to manage the production of a program and at the same time how to manage a company," said Helmy, who was born in Palembang, South Sumatra, on March 6, 1963.

Helmy, who is typically a hard worker, began his career from the lowest position. For example, he compiled quizzes. In 1999, he parted company with Ani Sumadi and set up his own production house with friends. Their first production was Kuis Joshua (Joshua Quiz). Later he established his own company, PT Triwarsana.

Helmy comes from a family with a great love for entertainment. His father, Haji Muhammad Yahya Matusin, was fond of singing while Helmy and his four siblings also liked singing. Helmy became acquainted with the entertainment world when he was a young boy, though back then it was just a hobby. Later, Helmy and his elder brother, Tantowi Yahya, became profession entertainers.

Unlike Tantowi, who is famous as an MC, Helmy tends to be an entrepreneur although his business is inseparable from entertainment.

Indeed, as a civil servant with accounting expertise he had no an ambition to be an entrepreneur in the entertainment sector. His entrepreneurship came to the surface during his university days, when he took part in a number of extracurricular activities, like playing in a band, joining a theatrical group and organizing music events. That's how he got into the entertainment world.

"Thanks to these activities, I met many artists and musicians and they eventually asked me to join their management teams. It was my contact with the art world that finally got me into the entertainment world," Helmy said.

For Helmy, time management is his greatest challenge: how to prepare himself and learn to say "no" to anything that it is impossible for him to do. He has indeed received a flood of offers, but he is unable to accept many due to time constraints. However, it is here that the temptation lies, he said.

Few people can imagine the ups and downs that Helmy has gone through in his career. He is the most disappointed when he is cheated. He has also had to endure slander and gossip. But when he is down, he will try his best to get up again don't consider someone's success from how many times he falls but from how many times he can get up again after falling," he noted.

Luckily, there are many people who care about him when he is down. This has led him to believe that when someone goes through an ordeal, he will be "promoted to a higher class". Life has its ups and downs, its ebb and tide. The most important thing is that he can bear all that happens to him.

"If you wish to be a creative person, hesitate to try your best," said Helmy, who is considered to be blessed with a million ideas. He also always tries to be open-minded or open to all input.

"Either directly conveyed to me or from reading, it helps me predict future trends and what people will like," he said.

Helmy said that some entertainers can obtain material gain easily. But being an entrepreneur is different and more challenging as he must think about a number of things, for instance, investment and profit.

Helmy, who was initial interested in marketing, said his accounting background helps him a lot in managing his company. He does not find any difficulty finding a connection between entertainment and entrepreneurship.

Despite his success in the entertainment world, it seems Helmy is yet to feel fully satisfied. It is this that prompted him to set up a consulting firm with management expert Rhenald Kasali. The company is named Here, an acronym of their names, and its business covers consulting, public relations, marketing, entrepreneurship and communications.

Today, Here is inactive due to the tight schedule of its founders.true I set up a company with Rhenald Kasali, but the company has stopped its activities for now. However, privately, I still provide consultancy to those who need said the father of three. (Iwan Suci Jatmiko)