Jakarta. Kevin Mintaraga, the Chief Marketing Officer of the Indonesian technology company with the biggest marketplace platform Tokopedia, has earned a spot at Fortune Indonesia’s 40 under 40, which compiles a list of influential young individuals across different fields who are creating and seizing opportunities.

Fortune Indonesia Editor-in-Chief Hendra Soeprajitno explained that Fortune Indonesia's 40 Under 40 figures have something in common.

"The gait, energy, time, hard work, unyielding spirit, consistency, and dedication they give lead to positive outputs that help a lot in our lives together," Hendra said.

Kevin was one of the awardees under the business category, joining other top executives such as GoTo’s on-demand business president Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo, and entrepreneur and investor Kaesang Pangarep, to name a few. 

Kevin has been part of the digital marketing world for more than a decade. But the 38-year-old man had to get over many obstacles throughout his career. 

According to Fortune Indonesia, his father suffered a stroke when he was studying in Australia. Kevin had to return home as his father’s condition had put financial stress on the family. The next obstacle was when he had to look for a job to help the family. Kevin had zero experience and a junior high diploma as he took a special program in high school. And so he planned on becoming a taxi driver. 

But Kevin got an offer to become an account executive for a graphic design agency. This led him to be friends with many marketers from different multinational firms. 

It was in 2007 when Kevin had his lightbulb moment. Kevin and the said marketers were talking about how low the internet ad spending was in Indonesia. The marketers told Kevin that their headquarters had urged them to boost the internet ad spending, and this gave Kevin the idea to set up the digital agency Magnivate a year later. 

Magnivate grew massively in the fourth or fifth year after its founding. But at the same time, its founders began having conflicting views. This was quite a tough time as his partner was responsible for the production side. However, Kevin and his team at the Magnivate managed to overcome the obstacles.

"In fact, when the team is given more trust, they are excited and see this as an opportunity to learn and develop," Kevin was quoted as saying by Fortune Indonesia.

In April 2019, Kevin became a Nakama — the nickname for Tokopedia employees and also the Japanese word for “comrade”. 

Kevin and his team were behind the birth of countless Tokopedia affiliates. The program has enabled many Indonesians to become influencers by promoting products on Tokopedia using an affiliate link. Affiliates will get paid a commission of up to 10 percent or Rp 50,000 at maximum whenever a product gets sold from the affiliate link. They will also earn Rp 50 for every page visit to the product’s page or the promoted store.