Wishnutama's Career Path: From TV To Being Minister And Back To Tokopedia

Wishutama Kusubandio (instagram @wishnutama)

JAKARTA - Former Minister of Tourism and Economy Wishnutama returned to his old seat as commissioner at Tokopedia. The news was conveyed by the owner of the long name Wishnutama Kusubandio on his Instagram account.

"I'm back. Thank you very much, bro William @liamtanu and @tokopedia. Hopefully we can advance Tokopedia in digital economic equity in Indonesia. Especially in terms of empowering local MSMEs, which are closely related to the progress of the country's creative economy," Wishnutama wrote. on Instagram, Monday, February 8.

Wishnutama was relieved to be able to return to the largest e-commerce in Indonesia. This is because he admitted that he was very tired as a minister.

Who is Wishnutama Kusubandio

Wishnutama was born in Jayapura, Papua on May 4, 1976. The husband of the artist Gista Putri had attended high school at Kooralbyn International School in Queensland Australia and at the International School of Singapore.

Wishnutama then completed his studies in Liberal Arts at Mount Ida College Boston, United States (US). There, he focused on learning communication and television by studying at Emerson College, Boston.

He started his career in broadcasting from a low point as a Production Assistant at New England Cable News AS and became Assistant Director On Air Promotion at WHDH-TV, Boston, until he returned to Indonesia in 1994.

Returning to Indonesia, Wishnutama worked at Indosiar as a Supervisor On Air Promotion. A year later, he moved to the production division as Production Assistant.

His name began to skyrocket when he became Executive Producer of the News and Production Division, and soon he became a Production Manager. There are many programs that have been created by the 49 year old man while at Indosiar, some of which are Pesta, Gebyar BCA, Patrol, One Hour Together and Witnesses.

In 2001, Wihsnutama moved to another national television station, namely Trans TV as Head of the Production Division. For two years working at Trans Corp media, his career climbed to become Operations Director, and the following year he became Deputy President Director or Managing Director.

When the Para Group business group took the majority share of TV7 in 2006, he was appointed as the President Director of TV7 which later changed its name to Trans7. Two years later, Wishnutama was appointed as the President Director of Trans TV.

The flagship programs he produced while at Trans Corp such as Extravaganza, Dunia Lain, Termehek-Mehek, Opera van Java, On The Spot, and Indonesia Seeking Talents. Thanks to his contribution, he has won awards both nationally and Asia, including the Asian Television Award and the Panasonic Award.

Armed with his experience, Wishnutama tried new luck by establishing a production house. From here, he had the opportunity to build a television station News and Entertainment Television (NET TV) which officially aired in 2013.

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In the next five years he was trusted to become a Creative Director or Creative Director at the 2018 Asian Games Opening and Closing Ceremony. This made his name even more discussed.

Until 23 October 2019, President Joko Widodo appointed Wishnutama as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy in the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet for the 2019-2024 period. In the same year he became a Commissioner at Tokopedia.

However, his position was later replaced by Sandiaga Uno who was inaugurated on December 23, 2020. Currently, Wishnutama is again trusted to be Tokopedia's commissioner.