Rieke Caroline’s journey to bring better legal access to more people

Currently the founder of Kontrakhukum and a true lawyer at heart, Rieke Caroline shares with Indonesia Tatler the endless journeys she has undertaken to reach the position she is in today

Rieke Caroline, the founder of Kontrakhukum—a digital platform focusing on protecting the business-legal side of small- to medium-sized enterprises (Smes)—completed her bachelor’s degree in business law at Universitas Pelita Harapan and earned her master’s degree in notary from the University of Indonesia on scholarships. She was, in fact, the only recipient in her year throughout the whole school for the Platinum scholarship at Universitas Pelita Harapan.

“Scholarships are not usually provided to academics pursuing notary, but I was determined to apply for one, nonetheless. It was a stroke of luck that I received it and therefore my education was granted by Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture,” Rieke says.

Being the ambitious personality that she is, and before her journey in law, Rieke had been nominated for a position as high-school ambassador for MTV On Sky, a radio station, while she was in high school at Santa Ursula. Even though it wasn’t a job that paid her in cash but in vouchers instead, she was satisfied to be pursuing something out of her comfort zone alongside being a straight-a student.

In university and as a recipient of the Platinum scholarship, Rieke was appointed as the dean’s assistant as voluntary work. Upon completing her bachelor’s degree in business law, Rieke was offered a job with the Lippo Group. “I was fortunate to work alongside the owners of Lippo and thus was exposed to the real world of business at a young age,” Rieke explains further.

As opportunities came knocking on her door, Rieke chose to delve into the world of media a year after her position at Lippo Group. She was positioned as a news anchor at Metrotv for its business and law stream known as Top Executives, in which Rieke was able to interview CEOS from the country’s conventional and digital companies. It was then that she decided to plunge into running a business of her own.

Somewhere along her journey, Rieke was crowned first runner-up for Miss Tourism Indonesia in 2009 and first runner-up for Miss Tourism World 2010. Her love of travelling and taking on challenges was made even more obvious during this time.

“I was tasked with many challenges while being an anchor at Metrotv, so the duties I had to perform as runner up of Miss Tourism in 2010 were a breeze. I enjoyed everything I did,” says Rieke, who was sent to some of Indonesia’s farthest reaches while on an assignment for Metrotv.

The Magna Cum Laude graduate stands by the saying “Work hard but work smart”: a lesson she learned while in the numerous positions she has held and a phrase that drives her business up until now.

In fact, Rieke tipped her toes into the business of legal affairs while still holding her position at Metrotv to ensure she was moving in the right direction. When she found out that her passion really was in legal affairs, she then decided it was time she left Metrotv.

Her journey with Kontrakhukum then began at the end of 2015 amid her master’s degree in notary. The company provides SMES with services such as contract drafting and review, incorporation/company establishment, and brand registration.

Starting off with a mere 12 clients in her first month of operation, Kontrakhukum now looks after approximately 866 clients. “Each of our clients is different and specific in its own way; therefore, we need to customise each of our contracts and documents based on the clients’ requirements,” says Rieke.

Kontrakhukum’s system is an online-based application, as easy to access as Facebook, mentions Rieke. After a free and easy account set-up process on the web, clients can store their documents on the cloud and choose from many legal services. Now in the pipeline for 2019 is expanding Kontrakhukum’s services to Bali and Surabaya, where Rieke hopes to open more offices.

To end our lovely afternoon together, Indonesia Tatler asks Rieke to describe herself in three words, to which she replies: “Determined, disruptive and strong-willed.” We couldn’t agree more.