Shinta Nurfauzia on Her Entrepreneurial Journey: Strong Work Ethics Take People Places

this article is a part of DailySocial's Mastermind Series, featuring innovators and leaders in Indonesia's tech industry sharing their stories and point of view.

Healthy consumer space is getting more crowded. According to Deloitte Consumer Insights, people have demonstrated an overall shift towards greater health consciousness. In the food category, health and nutritional value come as the biggest three considerations after price and taste. Lemonilo is one of the pioneers in this area.

Shinta Nurfauzia is one of Lemonilo's co-founders. She believes that Indonesia has the opportunity and quality to become a better country. She completed her formal education in business law from the University of Indonesia and Harvard Law School. After quite some time working in the legal field, she ended up more excited with her side job as an entrepreneur.

During her education years as well as her working days, Shinta was a very passionate person. She started her first business early at 14 with The Pancake Co. and comeBAGtome. Her last job before Lemonilo was consulting for the Indonesian government while being a founder of the fashion brand Hood. When she was a lawyer, she was named the most promising Indonesian female lawyer back in 2012.

All of these achievements don't just come knocking at her door. She worked very hard for that. She sets a high standard, a strong work ethic, and a complete dedication to everything that she works for. She's an inspiration to her surroundings, especially for women who still think that they are not good enough.

DailySocial has an opportunity to dig deeper into her journey as an entrepreneur and a woman in tech. Here's the excerpt of our conversation.

Who was Shinta Nurfauzia before Lemonilo?

When Lemonilo was founded in 2016, I was a student, a lawyer, and a consultant. However, I've always had this entrepreneurial mindset. Philosophically speaking, I have a dream for Indonesia to become a better country. At that time, I was thinking that health is one way to achieve that goal. Why? Because in order to become a productive country, one should have a healthy population.

Therefore, I want to create something with this angle. Before Lemonilo, there was Konsula, a healthtech startup with a mission to improve health access for the Indonesian people. I learned a lot from co-founding Konsula before finally deciding to take another approach to contribute to the development of healthy consumer space in this country with Lemonilo.

What really inspired you to create Lemonilo?

Lemonilo started out as an e-commerce platform. We look for healthy food products, set the health standard, and market the product. At that time, healthy food products are not as mainstream as today. In the process, we found out that Indonesian people are very addicted to instant noodles yet also complain about the unhealthy side of it.

Based on this problem statement, we'd come to a solution that Indonesian people need healthy instant noodles intake. Despite all the things that we are afraid of a pack of instant noodles, we still need it. There is a giant need gap there. That is when we started to produce our own healthy instant noodles. Furthermore, we expand to several products, such as snacks and spices.

In terms of creating a product, there are a few steps. First, the ideation. As we are a data-driven company, all of our ideas come from data first as we've seen what the market needs. Then, we conduct some research to hear what people really say about the problem in order to create a solution. We have our internal product innovation team, involving seasoned technologists and scientists to do the whole production cycle. To date, we have around 300 employees.

You have an academic background in legal yet you manage to build a startup for healthy products, how do you see these two things related?

The basic output of being a student is having a work ethic and dedication. As a lawyer, these two things are non-negotiable. Aside from that, there is legal thinking. During my days working in the legal field, legal people have the capacity and comprehensive understanding of risk management. And it is essential for business.

Basically, they are very related in several layers. In terms of stress level, as a person working in the legal field or being an entrepreneur, I have my share of sleepless nights. We cannot escape our responsibility and it is overwhelming sometimes. Also, when it comes to legal, everything is a red alert. However, I myself encourage to put the maximum effort into both roles.

During your journey with Lemonilo, what was the biggest lesson learned from running a business in the tech industry?

For me, the biggest challenge as a founder is finding the right product market fit. You need to know your consumer better and do it right in order to pass this stage. Many startups are giving away free stuff and offering big sales just to attract consumers. However, when the price returns to normal, not everyone will stay.

Also, many people see these startups with revenues and a series of funding thinking that they have already found the product market fit. The fact is that nothing can guarantee product market fit, it is a continuous journey. One of the elements of product market fit is the product is well-accepted and paid according to the effort and original price. This is one of the biggest lessons I've learned from Konsula.

Lemonilo caters to quite a niche market. What makes you believe Lemonilo can be a sustainable business?

When you say 'niche', what kind of standard do you use? Is it niche to create a product that is also sold by a number of giant players? In 2016 when there are not many healthy products discovered, Lemonilo offers a niche product. Today, the fact that there are at least 4 big companies producing healthy instant noodles and claiming a similar concept to Lemonilo proves that we are doing something right.

In terms of growth, we are right on track. As the number one healthy player in Indonesia, according to Nielsen, Lemonilo has two responsibilities. First, to strengthen its position among massive competitors entering the healthy consumer space. Second, expanding the healthy consumer space itself.

I personally love competition. In fact, the more players the bigger the scene. Lemonilo also invites other brands to involve in this initiative. Because this is a group effort to create a healthier FMCG space, Lemonilo cannot do this alone.

How do you manage to keep the company stay in line with the mission?

In Lemonilo we have a culture called SBD. As a company, we have to servesothers. Aside from generating income, we are here to create a better life for many people. In order to do what we aim to do, there is no blueprint. Therefore, we need to understand the FMCG market thoroughly.

We need to learn but at the same time, we need to unlearn to find the Lemonilo way. Therefore, we need to be free in Lemonilo way. Finally, we need to do what is right. Despite all the competition and the uncertainty, we need to keep our integrity tight to do what is right.

You are one of only a few well-known women leaders in this country. How do you see the tech industry treating women as a worker or woman as a leader?

For the tech industry and any industry in general, WE CAN DO BETTER. For example, how many women founders have received funding from VC? It's still a very small number. Lots of people still think that women are not as capable as men and that it is hard to trust women with money, while research found that women are likely better with responsibility. So, why are we afraid to give women the chance?

A global research also showed that gender equality can boost economic growth and stability. I'm speaking here not only in the context of women in tech, but also in a general way. A small thing mentioned by Sheryl Sandberg in her book Lean In about why it is necessary for pregnant women to have special parking spots. Biologically, women and men are different, it would be unfair to justify only one standard.

In fact, lifting women does not necessarily mean stepping on men. I think women's position in the tech industry is still not equal. Companies still have to look for a way to balance this. As we see it based on the economic value, there are monetary and opportunity losses in the imbalance.

As a woman entrepreneur, what would you say to the other woman out there trying to make it into the entrepreneurial world?

First, you are not alone. Believe in yourself that as a woman--despite your environment--you can achieve great things. Second, in order to achieve your dream, make sure to find your tribe. In fact, who can understand women's problems better than fellow women?

I'd like to share Najwa Shihab's example of having a tribe. It is simply by creating a small support group of women where the only purpose is to flatter each other. It's not at all fake, but in a world where things are difficult, it's nice to have your support group.