Brian Marshal, Beautifying Online Shops for SMEs
Brian Marshal – Sirclo CEO
The rapid growth of information technology moved Brian Marshal, 29, to do something for his country. After graduating from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), he decided to work in Jakarta. Through Sirclo\'s pioneer business, Brian helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs) design attractive online stores.
At the end of June in an office in the Green Office Park area of BSD Serpong, several young people were busy working on their computers. The smell of fresh paint came off the rough walls in the room, part of which was still covered with a plastic sheet. It had only been a week since they had moved into the room.
Brian, dressed in a gray shirt that read “Sirclo”, entered the room and greeted his employees at a large desk full of computers. "Just wanted to show my face," said Brian with a laugh, and then spoke to several people.
Brian had just returned in Indonesia after a holiday abroad. He casually slung his bag onto a table. "I do not know yet where my desk will be. We just moved in this week, there is still much to organize. [The office] was supposed to have been ready before Lebaran," he said.
Previously, Sirclo occupied a Central Jakarta shop from where it ran its pioneer business, which provides website development services for young entrepreneurs. Anyone wishing to create an online store can do so for free through Sirclo. It offers many website templates for online stores.
However, if the entrepreneurs wanted to create a website on their own, Sirclo provides web development services at a certain rate. In addition to providing maintenance for online stores, Sirclo also offers free training for online store owners in several cities.
Since it was established in 2013, Sirclo has helped create websites for about 70,000 online stores. "That number includes those that are no longer active. There are about 25,000 that are still active, while 1,000 of these have been developed in their own names," said Brian.
Developing a local business from scratch is not easy. Therefore, Brian offers several programs through Sirclo that are expected to help encourage clients to grow their businesses. The first is a 30-day guided program for successfully developing an online start-up.
"We help them start with designing the store’s website, uploading product photos, to setting up online payment options. So, we take part in monitoring [their progress]," said Brian.
Brian entrepreneurial mentorship is provided specifically for businesses that have not sold their products on social media, as such entrepreneurs offer different services from those with brands are in the upper-middle range. "They still need a lot of inspiration, from how to run a business and make sales, and up to their first order," he said.
The monitoring program is supported by the four pillars of the Sirclo team: marketing, business development, support and user success. These four divisions are in charge of monitoring the stores’ development and in growing their success.
In addition to the “30 days to success” program, Sirclo’s branches in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya also offer free training programs. Sessions run once or twice a week using the same materials for starting an online business.
"The training is free, [the participants] do not have any obligation to become a Sirclo client. In Jakarta [the training] is delivered twice, but only once in other locations," said Brian.
Meanwhile, for entrepreneurs with middle- to upper-level businesses that want to grow, Sirclo usually holds professional development workshops on a variety of subjects, such as how to make effective Facebook ads or how to attract financial institutions for venture capital.
Brian cited one online store that started developing its business through Sirclo and was now successful: Sale Stock Indonesia. "There are also those that previously sold goods through chat forums that switched to Sirclo to create a website and are still standing," he said.
Brian Marshal – Sirclo CEO
Working for the country
As a bronze medalist of the International Olympiad in Informatics 2007, Brian was given the privilege of studying at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Upon graduating from NTU, he was obliged to work for 3 years in Singapore.
After that, Brian felt the need to return to Indonesia to apply his knowledge at home. In 2013, Brian started his information technology business at a boarding house in Central Jakarta. The idea of establishing Sirclo was born in the rented room.
Four of his friends helped Brian start Sirclo; only one of them remains at Sirclo today. "Today, one friend still works at Sirclo and is head of the sales division. But we still meet up with [the others] who helped start the business," said Brian, who is originally from Bandung.
He then researched businesses abroad that were similar to Sirclo and found that many European countries already had similar companies.
Brian was able to catch the online business wave that emerged in 2013. However, he said, local constraints existed for website development businesses that hired employees with IT skills.
He added that creating a website through a software development company was time consuming and expensive at that time.
Sirclo’s development faced obstacles in 2015. Brian said that Sirclo had financial problems at the time, so it was forced to downsize from 30 to 16 employees.
"Expenses were very high, but our income did not increase. That became severe until we were faced with two options, close down or downsize," he said. However, they overcame the problem.
Brian continues to develop his pioneer business today. Besides providing webpage development services for online stores, Sirclo now offers a warehouse services for storing goods that will be distributed to online customers.
Brian Marshal
Date & place of birth: Bandung, Mar. 29, 1989
Education:
- Computer Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2008-2011)
- BPK Penabur Bandung (kindergarten to senior high school)
Career History:
- Analyst, MCA Indonesia (2013)
- Internship, IBM Singapore (2012)
- Consultant, PwC Singapore (2011)
Organizations:
- Founder and chairman, Alumni Association of the Indonesian Computer Olympiad Team
- President, NTU Indonesian Student Association
Awards:
- IT Youth Award, Singapore Computer Society (2011)
- Young Leader for Indonesia, McKinsey & Company (2010)
- Bronze medal, the National Science Olympiad (2005)
