Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Tools or carpentry tools are usually found in materials and of course are sold without brands. Only a few tools have brands, such as Bosch, Stanley, RYU, and Krisbow.
Usually these brands are in modern building materials stores in shopping centers. On this basis, many people think that the tool brands there are foreign products.
In fact, not all of these estimates are correct. It turns out there is one brand that is native to Indonesia, namely Krisbow.
Krisbow was founded in 1998. This is an abbreviation of a person's name, namely Krisnandi Wibowo.
Krisbow and Krisnandi themselves are closely related to the Kawan Lama Group. Krisnandi is the son of the founder of Kawan Lama, Wong Jin.
According to the official website, Wong Jin is a tool entrepreneur who founded a shop called Kawan Lama in the Glodok area, West Jakarta, in 1955. The shop is very small, only 3×3 m in area.2.
Even though it is small, the shop has become quite successful over time. Kuncoro Wibowo alias Wong Jit Khioen became the company's key figure after Wong Jin. For the record, Kuncoro is the son of Wong Jin.
Quote Asian TatlerIt is known that Kuncoro has been helping his father manage the shop for a long time. During the process, he learned a lot about English, Mandarin, and negotiating with overseas suppliers.
Apart from that, he is also recorded as having studied at the London Business School in 1977. As a result, when his father died in 1981, Kuncoro was the one who was best prepared to lead the company's operations.
In Kuncoro's hands, Kawan Lama shot up. He carried out a lot of modernization that encouraged cooperation with foreign companies. This development is of course supported by fundamental things, namely the improving business climate in Indonesia.
Since President Soeharto came to power, every company's business has been able to run well because political stability has been controlled and economic growth has been boosted. As a result, all of this has enabled many companies to thrive, one of which is Kawan Lama.
Not surprisingly, the company said that in the 1980s, Kawan Lama transformed into PT Kawan Lama Sejahtera, daring to open many branches and create new businesses in the era that followed. Starting from Kaeser (1991), ACE Hardware (1995), and of course Krisbow (1998).
Until now, Kawan Lama still exists and controls more than 30 business brands and 1,200 stores. Apart from Krisbow, other famous products from Kawan Lama are a furniture shop called Informa and a beverage product, Chattime.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
(mfa/sef)