Onda Hermanto, a cow knuckle producer from Karawang, West Java, has a unique tradition of attracting customers. For example, he asked them what holiday bonus they wanted every year. Onda’s move proved effective because although his business was located alongside two others, Onda’s knuckles were still selling well. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Onda’s monthly turnover can reach hundreds of millions of rupiah.
Mr. Onda has had failures, but he has always been optimistic. Failure makes him more mature in doing business. He advised us to build a business that people will continue to need, such as businesses in the culinary sector, which is everyone’s primary need. “We have to be sure, if we’re not sure, what’s the point? If a person had a taste of failure, God willing, his experience will mature,” he said.
Trust is the basis for Mr. Onda in building his business. Initially, Mr. Onda allowed his customers to make payments in arrears. However, Mr. Onda was forced to change his strategy because many customers did not pay, and in the end, he lost tens of millions of rupiah. Mr. Onda got around this by doing business in small parties first, relying on small-scale cowhide suppliers. Nowadays, Mr. Onda has more significant business relationships and can supply more than six tons of cowhide monthly.
Having succeeded in his cow knuckle business, Mr. Onda started investing in his retirement plan. KSP Sahabat Mitra Sejati supported Mr. Onda’s dream so that he could buy a 12-door rented house, which he plans to expand to 24 doors. Not all the capital he had set aside over the years was used to build his future business.
“There is no need to work anymore; the money comes by itself. There are age and physical limits,” Mr. Onda said.
