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BRAND aggregator startup Tjufu is officially here to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and local brands improve their performance through digital utilization technology, data platforms, artificial intelligence, and an experienced team, by investing IDR1.8 trillion.
“We started Tjufoo with the big idea that all businesses can grow rapidly. However, we see that there are still many small and medium-sized businesses that have challenges in running an effective and efficient business, ranging from branding challenges, digital optimization, to business operational automation challenges,” said Co-founder & CEO Tjufoo TJ Tham during the inauguration, Thursday (1/27).
“With a team that is experienced in building startup companies, we want to align these elements into the digital Tjufoo brand ecosystem or what we call a brand aggregator,” he continued.
As a brand aggregator, said TJ Tham, Tjufoo will help SMEs in building their business by acquiring businesses through several investment schemes.
“But because this is an investment concept, the business that will be run later will be with the business owner,” he added.
TJ Tham continued that all brands of all categories and business levels can join Tjufoo. However, he said, his party will focus more on brands with a direct-to-consumer business model, not resellers or distributors.
According to him, business actors with this business model have many advantages, including revenue dominance so they can determine their own market prices, solid consumer data, and the ability to be closer to consumers.
“But behind that, there is a big challenge if they don’t have a strong infrastructure. This is where our role is to support and answer their business challenges,” he said.
TJ Tham also emphasized that his party would prioritize local brands. To ensure brands remain local, Tjufoo has provided a team of nearly 100 native Indonesians with experience building more than 70 brands in Indonesia. The number of these teams is targeted to be tripled in the near future.
To be able to grow sustainably in accordance with the times, Tjufoo also continues to provide mentoring from excellent individuals from large cross-sector companies such as Apple, Grab, Amazon, SAP, and JP Morgan.
“The more discussions we have with MSME players, we see that they really need team support for mentoring and assistance. Mentoring and mentoring that is carried out consistently can provide solid guidance for long-term business needs,” said TJ Tham.
On the same day, Tjufoo also signed the Sarinah Pandu Strategic Partnership Agreement for MSME development and women’s empowerment. In this collaboration, Tjufoo also provides support in the form of business funding, mentoring, and an ecosystem for the development of the digitalization of Sarinah’s MSME referrals.
“Tjufoo is very open to collaboration with various parties who have the same mission, namely increasing the scale of the MSME business. For that, let’s together revive the post-pandemic economy through digitizing MSMEs,” concluded TJ Tham. [antaranews/photo special]
