At the University of Krisnadwipayana in Jakarta, Yaya Winarno Junardy pursued a graduate degree in mechanical engineering. His first occupation was as a systems operator and application programmer with IBM Indonesia in 1970. He dedicated more than 25 years to this company before leaving in 1995, after having been President Director of PT Usaha Sistem Infromasi Jaya (USI/IBM) for two years.

A man of his abilities was a good catch, and no company could overlook his talents. So the next two years saw Junardy appointed Deputy President Director of Bank Universal, a private bank owned by the Astra International Financial Service Group, where his duties focussed on retail banking, developing an IT system and strengthening the human resources department. Jumping from IT to banking and then to telecommunications services was no problem for someone as adaptable.

His performance finally led to an offer from Peter Sondakh, founder of the Rajawali Group. “I joined Rajawali in 1997 as the President Director of PT Excelcomindo Pratama, a GSM cellular operator for Pro-XL and then, in 1998, I was assigned to head PT Telekomindo Primabakti, a holding company within Rajawali that deals in telecommunications, print media, broadcasting and hotel operations,” Junardy explains in his pleasantly soft voice.