Bond Alumnus and Managing Director of General Motors Indonesia, Mr Mukiat Sutikno, has been awarded the Australian Alumni Award for Business Leadership at a gala awards dinner in Jakarta on February 16.
The prestigious award was presented to Mr Sutikno in recognition of his rapid rise through the ranks of the Indonesian automotive industry and his strong business acumen, leadership and ethical business practices.
Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, said; “It was just fantastic to see so many outstanding Alumni celebrating together at the first ever Australian Alumni Awards.
“The winners and all the finalists in each category have shown great leadership and achieved remarkable things in their respective fields and I am pleased to think their Australian education has contributed to their success.”
The Australian Alumni Awards is the Australian Embassy’s major public event in Indonesia for 2008 and more than 600 Alumni attended. It is designed to acknowledge the contributions to Indonesia made by tens of thousands of Indonesians who have studied at Australian schools, universities and technical colleges.
After graduating from Bond University with a Master of International Management in 1996, Mr Sutikno stayed on in Australia, getting his first job as a Sales and Marketing Supervisor at the Indonesian Business and Exhibition Centre in Brisbane.
The following year, he returned to Indonesia and started out in the automotive industry, working for General Motors Indonesia.
The promotions came quickly: after commencing as a Market Research and Sales Forecasting Manager in 1998, Mr Sutikno was appointed Business Planning Manager in 1998, and in 1999, he became Brand Manager for Opel and Chevrolet.
Then PT Astra International, the largest automotive group in Indonesia, came knocking on his door.
He was head-hunted to work as their Deputy Head of the Marketing Committee for Astra Motor III. At the same time, Mr Sutikno was also working for one of Astra’s brands, Peugeot, as head of their Planning and Communication Department, and progressed to head up the Sales and Marketing Division.
After six years with PT Astra and with a wealth of marketing experience under his belt, Mr Sutikno returned to General Motors Indonesia as Managing Director in April 2007, at the age of 35 and less than twelve years after graduating from Bond.