{"id":1131,"date":"2018-07-03T06:50:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T06:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torajamelo.com\/?p=549"},"modified":"2025-05-19T18:58:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T18:58:24","slug":"dinny-jusuf-ceo-and-founder-of-toraja-melo-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/dinny-jusuf-ceo-and-founder-of-toraja-melo-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Dinny Jusuf, CEO and Founder of TORAJAMELO"},"content":{"rendered":"

An inspiring story of social entrepreneurship. \u00a0Whilst many of the leaders we feature focus on the increasing urban issues, it is worth remembering that in ASEAN alone there are more than a quarter of a billion people still living in rural areas. \u00a0It is great to see what Dinny Jusuf is doing\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your story?<\/b><\/p>\n

I am a mother, a wife and a dreamer. \u00a0I have two adult children and my husband hails from Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. \u00a0I dream of a better life for marginalized people, especially the women weavers of Indonesia. \u00a0In 2008, I started working with weavers from Toraja. \u00a0In partnership with Nina, my fashion designer sister, we aim to rejuvenate the indigenous culture by taking hand-woven textile to daily contemporary life.<\/p>\n

Our brand is TORAJAMELO, which means Beautiful Toraja. We produce head-to-toe fashion line made of hand-woven textile. \u00a0We work with around 250 weavers in Toraja and will soon expand to West Sulawesi and East Flores.<\/p>\n

What excites you most about your industry?<\/b><\/p>\n

Young People!<\/p>\n

We love it when we see young girls learn weaving again in the villages. \u00a0They say, they do it, because it is a meditative activity and it pays their school fee.<\/p>\n

We love it when young people come to our office\/shop saying: \u201cI have studied in Art History. I want to learn about Indonesian crafts, especially weaving. Can I join you?\u201d<\/p>\n

We love it when we see young people buy our products. \u00a0Sometimes with tears in their eyes, saying:\u201d We have been looking for something ethnic to wear, but modern in style. This is it! Thank you!\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your connection to Asia?<\/b><\/p>\n

I was born in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. I spent sometime in Australia. \u00a0I came back to Jakarta and in between enjoying my time as a mother and a wife, I have worked as a Corporate and Consumer Banker, Training Consultant, Social Worker, and as an Activist for Women\u2019s Rights. I commute between peaceful Toraja and hectic Jakarta. \u00a0Toraja is where my husband was born and where our main home is. \u00a0Now as a Social Entrepreneur, I go to Jakarta to market our products.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Favourite city in Asia for business and why?<\/b><\/p>\n

Jakarta! Actually I have a love and hate relationship with Jakarta. \u00a0I hate the traffic jam and pollution, but I love its vibrant ambiance. \u00a0So much is happening. \u00a0Presently, I am so excited with a kind of renaissance in loving Indonesian heritage creations among the Jakarta people, especially the young generation.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best piece of advice you ever received?<\/b><\/p>\n

In 2008 when I saw nobody was buying and wearing Toraja textile, I wondered what I could do. \u00a0So, I bought a few pieces of and brought the textile to Jakarta. \u00a0I asked my friend Obin of Bin House, who is a famous batik maker, what I should do. \u00a0She said: \u201dUse the textile to create something\u201d. \u00a0I have never looked back since. \u00a0Every year, we launch a new fashion line, which has 5 F\u2019s components: fun-fashionable-functional-at fixed price-made of fiber.<\/p>\n

Who inspires you?<\/b><\/p>\n

Brave, hardworking, selfless and yet ordinary women! Women like the weavers in Toraja, who work in the field in the day-time and weave at night to pay for the children\u2019s school fee. Women like the single parent weavers in East Flores, who defy their customary law to lead their life and feed their children. Urban poor women like our seamstresses, who travel a long way through traffic and rain to sew our dresses.<\/p>\n

What have you just learnt recently that blew you away?<\/b><\/p>\n

We learn new things every day in doing the community organizing activities among the weavers (leadership training, textile design, etc.) and doing the business in the market. \u00a0The value chains in both areas are very long. \u00a0So many things can go wrong every day. We learn to have faith, that despite all challenges, in time everything is going to be OKAY.<\/p>\n

If you had your time again, what would you do differently?<\/b><\/p>\n

Maybe to collect capital first from various parties (i.e. friends, family, etc.) then start working. \u00a0We have been using our saving to start and develop this business. We did not know, that it would cost so much. Hua ha! It\u2019s too late to stop now.<\/p>\n

How do you unwind?<\/b><\/p>\n

Go home to Toraja with my husband and watch the clouds go by.<\/p>\n

Have a drink with my sister Nina.<\/p>\n

Read a book.<\/p>\n

Spend a scuba diving holiday with my children.<\/p>\n

Favourite Asian destination for relaxation? Why?<\/b><\/p>\n

Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.<\/p>\n

Because there are mountains to hike, colorful ceremonies, friendly people to chat with, great local food and where my home is.<\/p>\n

Everyone in business should read this book:<\/b><\/p>\n

I always have these books by my bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Power of Unreasonable People-How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change The World\u201d by John Elkington & Pamela Hartigan<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sufi Book of Life-99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish\u201d by Neil Douglas-Klotz<\/p>\n

Shameless plug for your business:<\/b><\/p>\n

TORAJAMELO\u2019s two pronged approach is community organizing, which includes providing access to education and micro finance for the weavers. This is combined with a social business in designing, producing and marketing high quality fashion line.<\/p>\n

Dinny is the CEO in charge of Finance, Marketing and Public Relations;<\/p>\n

while Nina is the COO in charge of Design, Production and Operations.<\/p>\n

Dinny received the \u201cIndonesian Women of Change\u201d Award for The Trade and Investment category from the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia on International Women\u2019s Day in 2013.<\/p>\n

In 2013, TORAJAMELO received Best Creation Award from Bank Negara Indonesia for Nina\u2019s design. \u00a0In 2014 TORAJAMELO was recognized as one of \u201c50 Leading Companies for Women in APEC\u201d.<\/p>\n

How can people connect with you?<\/b><\/p>\n

dinny@TorajaMelo.com<\/a><\/p>\n

www.TorajaMelo.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook\/Youtube: Toraja Melo<\/p>\n

Twitter: @TorajaMelo<\/a><\/p>\n

phone:+628118881556<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An inspiring story of social entrepreneurship. \u00a0Whilst many of the leaders we feature focus on the increasing urban issues, it is worth remembering that in ASEAN alone there are more than a quarter of a billion people still living in rural areas. \u00a0It is great to see what Dinny Jusuf is doing\u2026 What\u2019s your story? I am a mother, a wife and a dreamer. \u00a0I have two adult children and my husband hails from Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. \u00a0I dream of a better life for marginalized people, especially the women weavers of Indonesia. \u00a0In 2008, I started working with weavers from Toraja. \u00a0In partnership with Nina, my fashion designer sister, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-stories"],"blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/dinny-jusuf-1-resized-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/dinny-jusuf-1-resized.jpg",728,490,false]},"categories_names":{"35":{"name":"News \/ Updates","link":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/category\/news\/"},"34":{"name":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/category\/stories\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2098,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions\/2098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}