1. Stanley Setia Atmadja
President Director and Co-Founder Adira
Finance
“I refuse to be mediocre”
To achieve success obviously takes more than mental intelligence. It
also takes the right mental attitude. The fact that Stanley Atmadja’s
company - Adira Dinamika Multi Finance Pty Ltd has become the biggest
consumer finance company in Indonesia, with 18,000 employees and
more than 350 branches located all over Indonesia, is proof of his refusal
to be a mediocre president director.
For this edition, OZIP got the chance to interview Stanley about the
beginning and the achievements of Adira Finance; his work ethics and
leadership, his motivation, and his obsession with collecting cars.
Stanley Atmadja is a constant figure in Adira Finance’s history. The
company was established by Adi Rahmat (who is now deceased) with
Stanley in 1991, and has gone through several leadership changes. When
it was first established, the shareholders were Adi Rahmat and Stanley.
After Adi Rahmat died, his position was filled by his son, Theodore Permadi
Rahmat.
Stanley and Adi Rahmat identified the market potential and economic
conditions in Indonesia in 1991. Indonesia had the third biggest population
in the world and low consumption (Gross Domestic Product per capita
was less than US$ 3000). They realized that there was an enormous need
for a financing company which could increase the public’s consumption
expenditure through the service of credit sales.
With this kind of opportunity, Adira Finance pioneers believed that a
financing company could serve some important needs in Indonesia and at
the same time could be a very promising business. Stanley summarized
that “The first reason was that a finance company is one part of a non-
banking financial institution that could be the backbone of the country’s
economy”.
Other than the external reasons, there were internal reasons as well.
Stanley admitted having an obsession to have his own company while he
worked at Citibank for five years.
“When I got a chance to build this business with Mr Adi Rahmat, I
decided to leave Citibank and established a business company under the
Adira banner,” he revealed. Before he joined Adira, he was the Director of
Citicorp Leasing Indonesia from 1988 to 1990 and before that held several
other positions in Citibank from 1985 to 1988.
In 2008, all shares of Adira Dinamika Multi Finance were acquired by
Temasek Singapore through Danamon Bank. Later on, Temasek Singapore
also acquired through Danamon Bank; Adira Dinamika, Adira Quantum

2. and Adira Insurance. Stanley still holds the position that he has been
holding since 1991 as President Director of the Adira Finance Group.
Adira has nine companies under its holding group, from automotive
products finance (Adira Dinamika Multi Finance), household products
finance (Adira Quantum Multi Finance), general insurance (Adira
Insurance), car rental and logistics (Adira Rental), Astra International
dealership (Asco Automotive), print media and electronics (Asco Media), to
properties (Asco Capital and Greedn Capital) and soil re-engineering
(Green Planet Indonesia).
Adira Dinamika Multi Finance, was Adira’s first automotive product
financing business. This company is targeting a total financing of 18 trillion
rupiah in 2010, for both cars and motorcycle financing.
Stanley also has a short and long term plan to continue Adira’s
improvements in quality, both internally (its relationship with its
employees) and externally (customers).
“Our strategy is that we consistently expand our network across
Indonesia. We have reached 350 branches and we will increase our point
of sales and collection to 1000 branches in the next three years.
We also want to develop our company’s information technology system
to include state of the art technology and give more training to all
employees, whether for soft skills or hard skills development.
Adira also wants to increase its service to customers, including end
users and dealers, through our CARE program - Cekatan, Antusias,
Responsif, and Empatik (Quick, Enthusiastic, Responsive, and
Empathic),” explained Stanley, who had his Master in Business
Administration from the La Verne University in the United States.
Of course, Stanley realises that to motivate 18,000 Adira employees
takes good and strong leadership. How are his visions and missions
guiding Adira? He really understands the process of give-and-take that is
required to motivate his employees.
“A company needs to facilitate the work/life balance of its employees.
For example: their family life, their professional and social life and their
spiritual life. When all needs are facilitated by the company, this creates a
conducive work environment that encourages them to do their best and
have high loyalty to the company,” said the man who was born on 24
August 1956.
How about Stanley? What does he need or usually do to motivate
himself?
He admitted that he never finds any difficulty in motivating himself. As
an example, he usually spends about 12 hours in the office, from 9 am to
9 pm - including business meetings and visits to Adira branches. Maybe it

3. is because he really enjoys his job. He admitted that he feels happy
everytime he goes to the office and is surrounded by people who work for
him and his company.
“When it comes to motivation, I never have a problem motivating
myself. I see competition as a challenge. I really love all Adira people, they
are like my extended family who are spread around the islands of
Indonesia. I love Adira’s business model. Most importantly, I always have a
mind set: I refuse to be mediocre. I always benchmark to a better or best
company around the globe and do continual improvements to achieve the
best.”
He continued that he also took inspiration and motivation from the
people closest to him and a successful figure whom he admired. He
admitted, “everyone always has people who inspire and motivate them. In
my case, it’s my two lovely daughters, Alvina and Alicia. They are the
people who always do that for me. I also admired Lee Kwan Yew from
Singapore, on how he transformed a small country to become like it is
today.”
He added that he also got a lot of different advice. But there is one
piece of advice that he will never forget. It was from his father, who
always told him “not to walk on air.” More or less, it means that he
should never let himself be too happy or proud lest he forget to be
grounded or to be down to earth and to have a realistic mindset and
attitude.
His own private and professional life also gave him a lot of important
lessons. The three most important lessons from his life have been: a)
Don’t ever underestimate anyone b) Trust that dreams can come true and
c) Success plus sharing equals happiness.
The third lesson was something that he actually implemented not just
talked about. He is renowned as a socially conscious businessman who
tries to help whenever he can. He sees this as a form of gratitude to God,
who has given him so much.
A few charity events in Melbourne, for example, have been sponsored
by Adira Finance. In Indonesia, he established the Increso Foundation as
a part of Adira Finance. Each Adira branch has an Increso Foundation
office. Increso aims to help patients with chronic diseases who have low
economic status. This can be in the form of free medications, health
counselling, help with medical bills; and by cooperating with health
institutions, specialist doctors, hospitals, pharmacists, pharmaceutical
companies, and health foundations.”
Increso activities and committees are organized by Adira’s own
employees, and have been reported in the Survei Magazine. This is a
deliberate strategy by Stanley to form a company culture that he wanted
to achieve: for each employee to feel the joy of sharing and compassion.

4. Stanley’s leadership prioritises work-life balance in professional, social,
and personal life. No wonder then, that even though he never has
problems in motivating himself, he also finds it easy to relax and rest.
His passion and hobbies are also not far from the automotive industry.
He really likes cars. He reads automotive magazines, and looks for cars all
around Indonesia. His car collections contain classic and exotic cars from
around the world. They include a BMW 2002 made in the 1970s, Lotus
Elan, AMG, Mercedes Benz, Viat Vicanto 1953, and Porsche 944. He really
takes good care of his car collections and often drives his own cars,
especially during office visits to Adira branches in many Indonesian
provinces.
“For me, it is very important for anybody to have an interest or hobby,
it helps a lot to have an enjoyable, relaxing time after a hard working
day,” said the Chairman of Indonesia Classic Cars Owners Club (ICCOC).
For Stanley Atmadja, whether he is working or relaxing, it is obviously
important to do both with style!