AFYAN CHOLIL ASY'ARI
Founder's Mentality, Sustainability, and Everything in Between
SUMMARY
A results-driven business strategist with more than 5 years of experience driving growth and transformation across FMCG and e-retail in the APAC region. Proven ability to design and execute successful corporate strategies, go-to-market plans, and regional expansions through strategic partnerships and distribution channels. Adept at leveraging data-informed insights to solve complex business problems, including the discovery of financial fraud (>\IDR 1 Billion recovery), improving operations (reducing customer complaints by 40,000+ and minimizing order cancellation losses by IDR 3+ Billion), with a strong foundation in business administration and managerial finance from Institut Teknologi Bandung.
Since his study, he was actively involved and led several organizations, business competitions, internship, and working experience where he got the opportunity to hone his skills in business, strategic planning, project management, and data analytics. He graduated with summa cum laude and received full scholarship from Thailand’s State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Email: afyancholil@gmail.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/afyancholil/ | Phone: +6282298371357
Fulltime Working Experience
Worldwhite Enterprise - WE Group (Nov 2022 - Present)
Worldwhite Enterprise (WE Group) is a retailer & a house of lifestyle brands with extensive experience in social media marketing, influencer marketing, community, and brand networks with over 5+ million followers on social media. During my career in this company, I was assigned to various positions that required me throughout my career here to solve ongoing issues and carry out fundamental transformations of business processes, such as:
Brand Management for Women Category (Oct 2024 - Present)
Assisted the Chief of Brand in strategically managing the company's core category (80% GMV), overseeing daily operations, managing P&L, and co leading a 39-member team (PID, Marketing, Creative) to drive successful Hygiene, Hub, and Hero campaigns (NPD Launch, Double Date, Pay Day, Collaboration, and Major Events)
Played a key role in the successful launch of LadyFit (women-dedicated fitness studio) and Shuwa Modest (sharia fashion brand), contributing to the company's expansion into new markets.
New Business Development (Aug 2024 - Oct 2024)
Conducted in-depth research, including market analysis and forecasting, to create detailed Go-To-Market (GTM) plans for expanding the company’s business within the fitness and sharia markets, specifically targeting the existing 70% woman customer base.
Operational Excellence (Mar 2024 - Jul 2024)
Directed an 80+ member operational team (Warehouse, Commercial Admin, Customer Service) through festive season challenges, implementing proactive solutions that reduced 40,000+ customer complaints and minimized order cancellation losses by IDR xx Billion.
Established a 12-member Customer Experience Department (Customer Care, Call Center, Success) by analyzing, crafting, and implementing a Service Excellence Transformation plan, optimizing customer journeys, ensuring seamless operations, and expanding commercial channels through products named We Hear We Care, Halo MinCare, We Shop with a 340% ROI.
Business Intelligence Architecture (Nov 2023 - Apr 2024)
Collaborated with IT to establish a unified data repository, integrating sales, traffic (brand.com, e-commerce, offline), advertising (Google Analytics, Meta Business Suite), inventory, and social media data for comprehensive business performance analysis and eliminating inefficiencies in the business process using DBeaver (PostgreSQL) Google Workspace, and Looker Studio
Designed and developed 3 core dashboards, automating the conversion of complex data to snackable insights.
Financial Operation Improvement (Jul 2023 - Nov 2023)
Conducted a comprehensive audit of financial operations workflow, resulting in the discovery of internal financial crimes involving embezzlement of >IDR 1 Billions, leading to the recovery of significant funds
Implemented standardized financial workflows and procedures, coupled with the automation of key tasks, significantly enhancing data accuracy and visibility, while fostering improved interdepartmental collaboration by creating cloud-based template worksheets.
Organizational Transformation (Mar 2023 - Jul 2023)
Initiated and led the transition from manual Excel-based people operations to a comprehensive HRIS, streamlining work schedules, payroll, operational systems, and organizational development whole directly managing a team of two (a HRGA Staff and a recruiter).
Played a key role in the successful recruitment of strategic leadership positions, including the Head of HR and Organizational Transformation, securing top talent from a leading startup and top corporation.
Aided the development of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) strategy to handle interdependencies between company policies with Government regulation by evaluating the existing policies and organizing workshops and socialization for 180+ employees.
Corporate Strategy (Nov 2022 - Feb 2023)
Drove transformative growth by consolidating several SME brands into a cohesive corporate entity. This was achieved through the creation and management of a Long-Term Roadmap Plan, developed using SWOT analysis, Strategic Objectives Matrix , and in-depth interviews with C-level executives to capture their strategic vision.
Successfully facilitated a Fashion Show event and a Group Holding launching event named Worldhite Connect 2023 which achieved over +100 million impressions. [News]
Acted as a commercial innovation catalyst for deadstock issues in the company leading to the Annual IP Event called “Imperfec Sale” which generated tens of billions of rupiah. [Imperfect Sale].
Paragon Corp (Nov 2020 - Oct 2022)
Corporate Strategy (Nov 2022 - Oct 2023)
Collaborated with the CEO and Family Office team to analyze and develop a strategic plan for business innovation and investment in the Holding portfolio.
Examined 10 industrial analysis through primer & desk research: situational analysis, competitive landscape & benchmarking, government regulation, financial feasibility, and market penetration strategies.
Project Implementation (Nov 2020 - Dec 2021)
Assisted, coordinated and executed serial special projects, including CSR, Employer Branding, Enterprise Incubator, and Community Development Programs [@growatparagon; @pif_id; @leadthefest; @indonesiapeerleaders]
Developed and implemented end-to-end program and people development strategies for company and management projects, including a digital employer branding campaign, recruitment, curriculum design, and partner relations, reaching 13,000+ participants and achieving a 10x increase in followers and a 7% engagement rate improvement, while leading a 4-member team.
Established a right-fit talent sourcing pipeline by co-initiating and managing a coaching-driven peer learning program, cultivating 40 future leaders with FMCG industry insights and case study training, resulting in an efficient Management Trainee and Internship Program hiring process.
SaaS Company
Founder's Office (Jan 2020 - Apr 2020)
Assisted the founders to research, strategic formulation, and implementation for the company that include:
1. Multi-channel management
2. Brand building, management and consultant
3. Offline channels penetration and operation
4. Digital & internet marketing
5. ATL & BTL marketing - Including Social Media Management / PR / Events / Roadshows
6. KOL management
7. Finance, Accounting, Tax (FAT)
8. Legal and License
Siam Cement Group
Project Support Coordinator (Apr 2019 - Apr 2020)
Co-led a team from various regions in organizing the "Retote Project" - a CSR program and collaborated with the local youth community (Karang Karuna) to develop the circular economic status of a rural village by upgrading its value from unused textile waste
Delegated Indonesia for Sustainable Development Symposium in Bangkok 2019
Successfully pitched a community project to the Kingdom of Thailand's Former Prime Minister in Bangkok, securing full support from them through Thailand's SOE, obtaining ~IDR 100 Mio Grants.
Project-based Working Experience
Market Data Analyst for Institut Teknologi Bandung - Indonesia (Oct 2024 - Present)
Applied data analytics to industrial applications, supporting the Catalysis and Processing Systems Engineering Department (FTI) under Dr. Haryo Pandu Winoto, contributing to the Long Term Plan for RIPIN 2035 Indonesia in the chemical industry.
Business Analyst for Whare Haurora - New Zealand (Oct 2022 - Feb 2023)
Collecting and analyzing data from various sources related to IoT commercialization in order to generate GtM strategy
Creating reports, dashboards, and visualizations to help others understand business performance with Looker Data Studio.
Business Analyst for NSW Government - Australia (Apr 2022 - Jul 2022)
Facilitated local consumer research on Indonesia market for several industries.
Collaborated with the expert staff in developing the Industry Reports
Program Manager for Ancora Foundation - Indonesia (Jul 2021 - Dec 2021)
Ancora Foundation - a philanthropic organization founded by entrepreneur Gita Irawan Wirjawan with an overriding objective to light fire in the minds of the young in Indonesia through education.
Developed and launched EKSTRA, a circular economy learning platform, leading a cross-functional agile team of 7 (Design, IT, Marketing Communication). Delivered key features including a game-based learning component, 5 modules, and marketing activations, resulting in significant outcomes: 19K+ reach, 10K+ user engagement, and 1,500+ contributors. [Website] [Report]
Assistant Project Manager for Kampus Merdeka - Indonesia (Aug 2018 - Dec 2019)
Assists the program given by the Ministry of Education and Culture Republic of Indonesia namely Kredensial Mikro Mahasiswa Indonesia for Bandung Institute of Technology. His team and he successfully reached +300% of the targeted registrants. My key responsibilities:
Assisted the curriculum program and whole budgeting process.
Managed end-to-end recruitment process and general administration for 4K+ applicants
Managed and evaluated day to day operations for the program which led 500+ students across Indonesia.
Act as a mentor and facilitator for a startup teams in CORE program for Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Agile Project Management
Area of Expertise
Strategic Planning
Industry research
Market research
Strategic Innovation
Business Development
Special Project Management
Agile & Lean PM
Change Management
Stakeholder Management
Software Dev. Life Cycle
Data Science
Exploratory Data Analysis
Web scrapping
Data Visualisation
Data Storytelling
Education
Bandung Institute of Technology
Bachelor of Business
Magna Cum Laude. GPA: 3.77/4.00
Full scholarship from Ministry of Education and Culture, also ASEAN Sharing the Dream Scholars from Thailand Goverment.
Mentor Coordinator of Development Program for BIDIKMISI Awardee during 2018-2020
Research Assistant of SBM ITB in Decision Making and Strategic Negotiation (DMSN) Group
1st Winner at ITB Startup Challenge 2019
1st Runner Up of National Entrepreneur Competition 2020 by Bank Mandiri (Wirausaha Muda Mandiri) 2020
University Technology of Sydney
Leadership Development Program across APAC [Certificate of Completion]
As 1 of 10 awardees from Indonesia for Asia Leadership Intensive through International Internships
Identified and developed GtM strategy of Australian's business to entry Indonesia.
Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (DQ Lab)
Data Science Bootcamp [Certificate of Completion]
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA), Python & SQL, Data Visualisation [Data Portfolio]
Selected as one of the Top 1% to get Scholarship
Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (DQ Lab)
Data Science Bootcamp [Certificate of Completion]
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA), Python & SQL, Data Visualisation [Data Portfolio]
Selected as one of the Top 1% to get Scholarship
Personal Interest
Although I am an analyst, I have always seen myself as an entrepreneur-at-heart. Having a founder’s mentality and a passion for lifelong learning is a deep part of who I am. After this journey, I see myself at the intersection of thinker and builder when referring to Lou Adler’s four types of work. I am addicted to solving problems, building things from scratch, and doing meaningful work.
Outside work, I enjoy traveling and volunteering, with a particular interest in education, entrepreneurship, also nature-related activities. It is not uncommon for me to express all my thoughts, perspectives, and feelings into writing for my blog.