Tri Rismaharini

Tri Rismaharini is the Mayor of Surabaya. She was awarded as the 2nd Runner Up of World’s Best Mayor 2015, as well as recognized as one of the World’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune Magazine. She is also a Startup Nations Award for Local Policy Leadership finalist. She has a vision to make Surabaya as the center of creative industry in Indonesia. Elected as Surabaya’s mayor in 2010, Tri Rismaharini has transformed her city of 3.2 million people into a new kind of Indonesian metropolis, one that celebrates green space and environmental sustainability. The city, long known for pollution and congestion, now boasts 11 richly landscaped parks and other green spaces. In some cases even cemeteries have been expanded and redesigned to absorb more water and reduce flooding, an everpresent risk in Indonesia. One of her accomplishments as the Mayor of Surabaya, is an initiative called Pahlawan Ekonomi Surabaya (Economic Heroes of Surabaya). This program has empowered more than 5,000 housewives to build their own small enterprises, from fashion to food to handicraft. She initiated this program as part of the city government plan to eradicate poverty and to strengthen the local Economy. She then brought the program to the next level. Pahlawan Ekonomi collaborated with Kreavi.com, an Indonesian designer network, to create Tatarupa (http://tatarupa.com/) a movement that connects designers and local SMEs to help them increase the value of their products by developing great branding and packaging. Another initiative developed to nurture entrepreneurship ecosystem in Surabaya is Start Surabaya, the first city-level tech startup incubator in Indonesia that aim to grow the next generation of creative entrepreneurs in the digital industry.