This post focuses on one of our employees’ career journeys before Xendit and how we have enabled them to become successful in what they are doing. We conducted an interview with Mikiko Steven, our Head of Customer Solutioning, to learn more about his inspirational story on stepping out of his comfort zone, being a C-level executive under the age of 30, taking a chance to do something beyond what he was capable of, and how it all boiled down to his curiosity in exploring new things.
Mikiko has 13 years of professional experience across various industries. He also has gained working experience in Australia, before deciding to return to Indonesia. He used to work at a global airline company as a CFO prior to joining Xendit. As a Head of Customer Solutioning, Mikiko has helped in building strong relationships with multiple stakeholders, including the government associations, to make sure Xendit’s operations in Indonesia can run smoothly.
Below is a summary of our interview with Mikiko:
Life before Xendit
Mikiko went to Australia to study Accounting and Finance at Monash University. After graduating in 2007 he looked for accounting/finance jobs and managed to land a position in one of Australia’s hospitality companies. After spending 2 years there, he landed another accounting job in a global eyewear supplier company, and stayed there for about 4 years.
Mikiko had established a solid career as an accounting and finance specialist. But at this point in time, Mikiko thought of returning to Indonesia to start his career here, and if it didn’t work out after 2 years, he’d go back Down Under. After much deliberation, he took the leap and decided to take the flight to Indonesia.
After arriving in Indonesia, he worked in an Australian fashion retail company located in Bali. Things didn’t really go as he planned, so he decided to resign and focus on searching for other career opportunities. He then got an invite for an interview in an airline company for the role of Business Analyst, something totally different from Mikiko’s area of expertise. Even so, he passed the interview with flying colors.
Mikiko’s initial task as a Business Analyst was to help develop a business plan for the airline’s new service. This involved doing lots of research and learning about other aspects of formulating a business plan that was completely new to him back then, such as legal, operations, and commercial. He also learned about managing relations with different stakeholders with various backgrounds. Mikiko said “I’d always been curious about the things I could do beyond the scope of accounting/finance, and as a Business Analyst I was given the chance to do things I’d never done before. Everything felt new to me, but I was always curious, I kept on asking questions about things I didn’t know yet back then, until I fully understood every single thing down to the granular level.” Indeed, his curiosity eventually served him as a catapult to success. He was able to demonstrate exceptional performance as a Business Analyst which earned him a promotion. Mikiko, who at that time was under 30, got promoted to Chief Financial Officer.
Things then started to feel a little too comfortable for Mikiko. He began to wonder what else could he do beyond his own job scope. After having spent around 5 years as CFO at this company, he thought now might be the great time to explore other things outside accounting/finance and the airline industry.
Discovering Xendit
Mikiko then came across a job opportunity at Xendit as a Partnerships Lead, which again, was something that wasn’t really relevant to his working experience. But he thought of giving it a go because this is a financial technology company, and perhaps he could contribute his skills and knowledge to the company. After doing some research about our company, he discovered more about Xendit’s growth story over the years. He found out that Xendit was the first Indonesian company that was an alumni of the reputable YCombinator (S15), which made him even more interested in joining Xendit. Mikiko was convinced that Xendit was the right place for him to grow his career, so he took the job offer and started working with us as a Partnerships Lead.
Life at Xendit
Here at Xendit, our Partnerships team focus on building relations with banking companies and payment providers to ensure seamless payment experience among our customers. Once again, he quickly demonstrated his potential and capability to do any job excellently. That combined with his experience in managing various stakeholders in his previous roles and his eagerness to learn new things, gave Xendit confidence in Mikiko’s ability to handle even more! Now, Mikiko is our Head of Customer Solutioning, who is spearheading not only Partnerships, but also Compliance, Government Relations, and General Ops as well.
Being exposed to different functions within Xendit has helped Mikiko in making his business stakeholder management skills more well-rounded. The thing that Mikiko loves about his role at Xendit is how he is being empowered and supported to explore new ideas and do things he has never done before. Another thing that Mikiko enjoys from working at Xendit is how he gets to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds who are passionate about what they are doing here and always hungry to learn new things.
Looking back into Mikiko’s journey, we can learn that stepping out of your comfort zone can take you places. Learning things you’ve never done before can open doors to so many opportunities out there. Here at Xendit, Mikiko has been successful in growing his career in the fields that he has no prior experience in, and this boils down to his curiosity and willingness to experience new things coupled with a supportive working environment.
Mikiko is one of the many people at Xendit with inspirational career stories. Xendit has allowed him to unlock and hone skills that have helped in growing his career even more. Interested in being a part of us? Discover your dream job here and start growing your career with Xendit!
