Nadiem Makarim

Nadiem Makarim was born in Singapore on 4 July 1984, to Indonesian parents, Nono Anwar Makarim and Atika Algadri. His father is an activist, lawyer and is of mixed Minangkabau-Arab-Indian descent. His maternal grandfather is Hamid Algadri, an Indonesian independence fighter. He has two sisters, Hana Makarim, and filmmaker Rayya Makarim. He married Franka Franklin and they have three children.

Makarim attended high school in Jakarta, and then graduated from the United World College of Southeast Asia (UWC SEA) in Singapore. He attended Brown University for an undergraduate degree in International Relations. He completed his MBA at Harvard Business School.

Early career

After graduating from Brown University in 2006, Makarim decided to come back home to Indonesia and worked at McKinsey & Company. Makarim worked as a McKinsey consultant for 3 years.

Makarim started his career at McKinsey & Company as management consultant in Jakarta. He left to co-found Zalora, an online fashion shop, then left Zalora to become Chief Innovation Officer at Kartuku, a payment service provider.

Zalora

Makarim became co-founder and managing director for Zalora Indonesia in 2011. In 2012, Makarim made the decision to leave Zalora to focus on building his own startup, including Gojek, which at that time had 15 employees and 450 drivers. He claims to have learned enough from Zalora, which was his main goal in accepting the position in the first place. In Zalora, Makarim had the chance to build a mega startup and work with some of the best talents across the region.

Cabinet minister

Under Makarim's tenure as Minister of Education and Culture, a decree prohibiting Indonesian schools from enforcing rules mandating the wearing of religious attire was signed into effect on 3 February 2021. Schools were given 30 days to repeal any rules making the wearing of religious attire compulsory before they would face sanctions. Makarim supported the ban, stating that whether a person should wear religious clothing is "an individual's right… it is not the school's decision."

“I joined this government at the request of President Jokowi, leaving behind a career I had spent years building,” he said. “I did it because I believed I could make a difference for Indonesian children and for the future of education in this country.”