It appears that President Joko Widodo’s eldest child, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, will close a chapter in his life as an F&B entrepreneur and open a new one as a politician soon.
Thirty-two-year-old Gibran recently announced that he will hand over his F&B businesses — many of which are very popular in Indonesia due to his attachment to them or otherwise — to his younger brother Kaesang Pangarep, who himself is a successful entrepreneur with several brands under his name, including a banana nugget chain, a clothing line, and an app-based culinary startup.
The announcement was made just two weeks after Gibran followed his father’s footsteps by joining the ruling PDI-P party as a cadre in order to be eligible to run for mayor of Solo, Central Java in 2020.
Gibran says he sees 24-year-old Kaesang, who is a student at the Singapore Institute of Management, as a capable successor, as the younger sibling has gained quite a reputation as an entrepreneur and occasional vlogger.
“Business can be run by other people. Kaesang is graduating, so I can delegate [my businesses] to Kaesang, as he will graduate next week,” Gibran told reporters yesterday, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
Gibran previously showed little interest in politics (or being in the public eye, for that matter), seemingly preferring to focus on his many enterprises, which began with a catering business called Chilli Pari in 2010.
Gibran has also gone into business together with Kaesang to launch several brands and products, including popular martabak chain Markobar, sago chips Kemripik and a recently launched restaurant named Mangkok Ku.
In addition, Gibran’s beverage chain startup Goola recently secured a US$5 million investment from Indonesian venture capital firm Alpha JWC Ventures. Other than F&B, Gibran also owns a raincoat brand and a repair service for Apple products.
Related: Runs in the family: Jokowi’s eldest son Gibran joins PDI-P, slated to run for mayor of Solo
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