CONSCIOUS CAPITALIST

MEILINDA SUTANTO, the creative brain behind upscale furniture retailer Arbor & Troy, wants to emulate The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick by making money and doing good at the same time, as she explained to CHITRA ANWAR

would wake up and think about creating beautiful designs and coming up with beautiful things,” says Meilinda Sutanto when asked how she came up with the idea to establish Arbor & Troy, the Jakarta-based upscale furniture retailer. The inspiring young entrepreneur is Creative Director and co-founder of the award-winning company. “My partners are Stephanie Hermawan, Wiwin Ng Hadinata and Joyce Wonsono,” adds Meilinda. “All of us are graduates of the same school in the United States, University of Michigan. In fact, the name of the business is derived from the name of the city where we went to school, Ann Arbor, and from Troy, another city in Michigan that we used to go to on weekends.”

Arbor & Troy offers Indonesian-designed and made furniture in updated American classic styles. Under Meilinda’s creative leadership, what started out in 2006 as a single showroom at The Papilion in Kemang has grown to include branches in Grand Indonesia, EX Plaza Indonesia and Lippo Mall, Kemang. “Our celebrity clients are too many to be named,” she says. “According to my delivery team, the whole zip code of Menteng residents are our loyal patrons, and many top Indonesian artists as well. We furnished the offices of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and of Dr Dino Patti Djalal (Indonesia’s Ambassador to the United States). The ambassador was so impressed, and surprised, that we are a locally brewed brand with international appeal.” She mentions that Arbor & Troy was awarded Best Local Brand in 2009 by the British interior design magazine Livingetc and that she was personally named Best Product Designer in 2010 by an Italian lifestyle magazine, Amica.

On top of expansion and accolades, 2014 is shaping up to be a promising year for the company. “Effective as of January, Arbor & Troy has merged with Mahakarya Warisan Nusantara, a luxury brand platform that offers domestic brands (including Iwan Tirta Private Collection) to international exposure,” Meilinda reveals. “We’re looking to open four or five more stores in Jakarta. Arbor & Troy has added a new collection of children’s furniture that was launched last as an exchange student, as I double majored in Economics and Japanese Literature,” she says.

She is the current Marketing and Communications Chair for the Indonesia Chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). Founded in Indonesia in 1998, EO is a non-profit, educational organisation for entrepreneurs with a global network of over 8,000 business owners in 40 countries. Her role is to promote EO’s “vision to build the most influential group of global entrepreneurs and engage them in learning and growing. EO stresses a balance of personal development and professional achievement. As an entrepreneur, you should be successful with your family, your community and your environment, your career and your personal development. Being an entrepreneur is not just business, business, business.”

Meilinda goes on: “I’m really grateful for what EO has given me. As a contribution, I’m serving on the board. Next year, I shall be the Membership Chair. I’m hoping to do a lot of fresh recruitment for the organisation. I would like to see a lot of prospects for membership who are enthusiastic and who thirst for learning. What I’m looking for is leaders who lead with their heart.” Despite her busy business schedule, Meilinda makes her commitment to EO a priority, reflecting: “I feel that the more time I give to the organisation, the more it gives back to me. You learn skills serving the EO Board that regular members won’t gain. You learn a lot of powerful tools that you can apply to your career.”

“WHEN I WAKE UP IN THE MORNING, IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT MAKING MONEY ANYMORE. I FEEL THAT THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS A LIFE FULL OF PURPOSE”

October. We’ve only done the soft launch so far, but we’ll have a grand launch soon. It’s all very exciting.”

Meilinda was born in Jakarta and attended Tarakanita II School until third grade. Then she moved to Singapore and went to CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls’ School, an all-girls Catholic primary and secondary school. “For college, I attended University of Michigan at Ann Arbor for three-and-half years, and Waseda University in Tokyo for a semester