Anne Ridwan joins Ivan Hadywibowo's FCN to supercharge growth

Indonesian ad veteran and country director for R3 Indonesia, Anne Ridwan (pictured right), is joining the Future Creative Network (FCN) as chief operating officer.

FCN is an Indonesian holding company for a creative technology network and incubator platform that manages 40 subsidiary companies and about 1,000 people in total. As COO, she will be reporting to Ivan Hadywibowo (pictured left), the co-founder and CEO of FCN. The two will be working together to manage the companies under the FCN umbrella.

While FCN initially started off in 2016 under the creative agency Flock, in the past six years it has expanded its services to include digital agencies, production companies, media, tech, education companies and venture capital. In her new role, Ridwan will help Hadywibowo with strategic partnerships and new venues for growth for the network.

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Ridwan shared that although she had left the advertising agency scene three years ago, she was lured by the potential FCN held. “FCN felt my network, presence and point of view in the industry remained strong and respected. In fact, my previous role as the country director of R3 Indonesia was seen as adding more value to FCN, as one of its visions is to empower the creative economy of the future,” she shared.

She added while the decision took “serious and thorough contemplation, and of course a lot of convincing from Hadywibowo and his core management team”, it was ultimately her admiration for Hadywibowo’s talent, work ethics and humble nature that drew her back to the agency world.

“FCN is always very strong in creating ideas, brand narratives and storytelling, but what’s amazing is how it has transformed itself from a creative agency into a creative technology and innovation ecosystem that I believe no other local network of agencies have developed in similar breadth and depth as FCN has,” she said. Transformations are carefully planned and executed through strategic partnerships that have been well-curated and well complementary to other capabilities in the company, Ridwan added.

Eyeing growth

Ridwan added that as someone passionate about grooming and promoting local talents, her vision for growth also aligned with FCN’s core values. “We want to be really good not just in Indonesia, but in the region, and we are very serious about this,” she shared.

When asked where she sees this growth coming from, she said, efficiency and optimisation, increased capability and innovative products will be key factors moving forward.

“We are now seeing more budgets shift to the digital front, but most of the digital work is a game of volume, hence what’s more important is creating values within that digital ecosystem,” she said. That’s where strategic partnerships become key.

“I am a strong believer in organic growth and not a big fan of taking on pitches for the sake of growth. I believe that with what we have from tech, creativity, skills, and talents, FCN can package that together and bring great values to our clients. We want to strengthen that further and build capabilities that we don’t have to help enhance while testing our courage to step into uncharted territory to explore new venues for growth. Exciting time ahead, indeed!”

“I believe in FCN’s plan for the next source of growth. I am super excited about the chance to execute it with the core management of FCN and everyone in the network. I didn’t know how much I missed agency life until I came after being out of the industry. Much has changed, but some things remain the same as well. But overall I am enjoying it,” she added.

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