Deep Dive: The growing influence of the Gojek mafia

Indonesian education tech startup Zenius recently announced that it would be providing free lessons on Gojek’s app, since schools have been suspended and students have to learn from home because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Interestingly, Zenius CEO Rohan Monga used to be Gojek’s chief operating officer and head of international expansions. And he’s just one of many employees who have since left the ride-hailing unicorn to take up leadership positions in other companies.

Gojek’s co-founders / Photo credit: Gojek

How will this growing Gojek mafia affect Indonesia’s startup ecosystem? Tech in Asia’s Aditya Hadi Pratama shares Zenius’ story to find out.

Timecodes:

00:00 – Intro music
00:39 – This week’s topic: The Gojek mafia
00:52 – Zenius’ tie-up with Gojek
01:07 – Rohan Monga and the Gojek mafia
03:14 – Origins of the use of the term “mafia” and Gojek coming from another tech mafia
04:04 – What the emergence of tech mafias indicate about the state of a market’s tech ecosystem
05:00 – The impact of Gojek mafia on Indonesia’s tech scene so far
07:45 – The 15-year story of Zenius
08:34 – Not growing fast enough pushed its founder to seek funding
09:34 – A chance meeting with Rohan Monga
09:52 – Monga joining Zenius as CEO
10:40 – Gojek and Zenius are very different businesses
12:06 – Monga’s expertise
13:06 – Making Zenius free for all users
13:45 – The perks of operating a free platform
14:49 – Bringing his wealth of connections to Zenius
15:31 – Is livestreaming-enabled education in the works for the company?
16:47 – Being in a familiar situation: facing a significantly larger and better-funded competitor

Download the full transcript here.

Featured reporter:

• Aditya Hadi Pratama, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Indonesia

Essential reading:

• Gojek mafia makes waves across Indonesian startup scene
• Former Gojek COO attempts to crack Indonesia’s education problem
• Zenius, Gojek partner to provide free learning for Indonesian students

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