Jun 19, 2023
Brent Chinn, an East Asian Studies and Economics major at Harvard talks about his journey since graduation in 1992. Since he was 12, Brent had a desire to work in the Pacific Rim. After school, he worked in San Francisco but was offered a position in Indonesia by the wife of a fifth-year senior when he was a freshman. At the time, Brent had no idea where Indonesia was but saw it as an opportunity to work in the Pacific Rim. He arrived in Indonesia in 1996 and made every rookie mistake, including overconfidence and underestimating how much he didn't know.
An American in Indonesia
Brent talks about his job in Indonesia. The stock market had just opened, Indonesia was an emerging economy and considered one of the five tigers at the time. His job was not just to work as an analyst but to also recruit talent. Brent had a car and a driver, which was part of the expat package, less enticing was his first lunch delivered to his office. He found it challenging to get settled with utilities and getting an apartment. However, he was fascinated by the country and its culture, and he started learning Bahasa Indonesia, the official language. It was a rockin' time. However, two years later, the Asian financial crisis hit, and everything came tumbling down. Brent made a rookie mistake when he advertised a summer barbecue and invited people to his apartment. He didn't realize that Indonesians didn't have the concept of summer or barbecue, because it’s on the equator and don’t have the same seasonal shifts, and he struggled to get the briquets and hot dogs. Despite the initial challenges, Brent has been in Indonesia ever since and has been working in various fields.
Indonesia’s Democracy
Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, but its constitution is a secular democracy. Its democracy was messy, with demonstrations and volatility, and Americans got evacuated. In 1998, after the financial crisis, President Suharto stepped down, and for the first time, there was a democracy. Indonesia recognized that their country was full of 16,000 islands with thousands of different languages and dialects. They had to get everyone speaking the same language and realize they were better together than apart. They put their differences aside and moved forward, hacking out their differences in a democratic way. Indonesia is considered one of the biggest success stories for democracy. It's also a great growth story. Indonesia has a lot of lessons that they can give to Americans in terms of what happens when you don't have to dominate political parties and how to build consensus to drive a political agenda.
Working in Finance during the Financial Crisis
Brent arrived when Indonesia was a hot market, but Brent's personal experience was challenging, as he had been in the country for only two years when the financial crisis hit, and suddenly, nobody was taking any debt. Brent decided to stick around during the crisis, and the company he worked for became one of the largest issuers of debt. He had to print bearer bonds complete with terms and conditions. He was working with medium-term notes, which were a financial innovation at the time but are now banned. However, when the market changed, the company got into the debt trading business and made more money selling distressed bonds than they did issuing primary debt.
Brent talks about the riots that started during the financial crash and why he decided to stay in the country despite the fact that many Americans were being evacuated. Brent left Indonesia and went to business school at Wharton in 2001 and worked for a start-up in the US in 2004 but later returned to Asia in 2009 where he helped his old company build mobile stock applications.
Building the Startup TimKado
He started his own company in 2017 called TimKado, which makes software tools that fit on top of WhatsApp. The company automates content contact management for different popular chat applications, primarily WhatsApp but also Telegram, and other chat applications. Their major market at the moment is travel agents, but they also serve retailers, ecommerce, and some insurance companies.
WhatsApp is the dominant chat application for 2 billion people, particularly in Indonesia, India, Brazil, and some European countries. The company has its own API, and there are a whole group of third parties that make applications that work with WhatsApp. Chinn's company aims to be the first SaaS-based software platform that can extend beyond Indonesia, but go to other markets like Brazil, Mexico, and Europe. They want to help corporate companies build out their own chat networks and be ready for chat GTP or whatever should come down the pipeline in terms of AI.
Brent's experiences highlight the risks and rewards of working in emerging markets. The market can be volatile, and financial innovation can lead to toxic products. However, there is also potential for high financial rewards. His story also underscores the importance of regulation and the need for caution when investing in emerging markets.
Life in Jakarta
Brent currently lives in Jakarta. He believes that Indonesia has a lot to offer and wants to be an advocate for the country. Despite Jakarta's population of over 30 million people, there are plenty of parks and outdoor spaces to enjoy, and the city has a fantastic food scene with a variety of ethnic foods and organic options at reasonable prices. Jakarta has also experienced significant growth in infrastructure, including malls and public transportation, in the last 10 years. He believes that Jakarta is a safe place with a laid-back atmosphere and good music scene.
Influential Harvard Courses and Professors
Brent reflects on his college experience and how a class on ancient Chinese art has helped him in his current job, where he is trying to use technology in innovative ways to increase productivity. He shares that the biggest lesson he learned from Harvard is to change the paradigm and do something amazing. He invites people to connect with him on LinkedIn to learn more about his work and to explore Indonesia, including Bali, and Komodo Island.
Timestamp:
17:47 Discussion on investment banking and the industries dealt with
18:06 Experience with emerging markets and bearer bonds
20:16 Working with state-owned enterprises and financial innovations
21:39 Explanation of medium-term notes and their downfall
23:38 Personal experience during the financial crisis
24:20 Trading debt after issuing it during the financial crisis
28:17 Working for a startup in the US and returning to Asia in 2009
29:42 Building mobile stock applications and starting his own company
30:41 Information about his current company TimKado
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