Citra Pamerindo organizes 70 events a year
Citra Pamerindo organizes 70 events a year
When he started his company in 1993 in the East Java town of Malang with his younger brother, Taufik Ismail never imagined that PT Citra Pamerindo would become one of the country's preeminent event organizers, with an average of 70 events a year.
"We didn't even have our own office when we started. We ran the company from our car as our mobile office," Taufik Ismail told The Jakarta Post here last week.
Taufik was in the city to attend the official opening ceremony of the Jogja Expo Sekaten (JES) '04, the first event Citra Pamerindo has organized in the province.
Yet, JES is just one of six events that Citra Pamerindo is organizing this month.
"We have five other events to organize in Malang, Brebes (Central Java), Semarang (Central Java) and Mojokerto (East Java)," said Taufik, adding that only one of the six events was indoors.
On average, according to Taufik, Citra Pamerindo organizes some five to six events a month, or a total of some 70 events a year.
Established initially with capital of Rp 200 million, Citra Pamerindo now has a working capital of some Rp 20 billion and a gross monthly turnover of between Rp 3 billion and Rp 4 billion. When business is good, Taufik said, a net profit of Rp 100 million per event can be earned. When business is bad, they can experience a financial loss.
"We use cross-subsidy management in which we do not always expect a profit for each event we organize. We calculate profit as the cumulative earnings from all of the events we organize in a particular period of time," Taufik said.
In organizing JES '04, for example, Citra Pamerindo does not expect a profit regardless of the fact that it has invested some Rp 3 billion in the event. Instead, it expects success in improving its image and name recognition in the region.
"We consider 2004 our investment year for Yogyakarta and Central Java. Hopefully, we will hit a break-even point next year and then we can start enjoying a profit with the third or fourth JES we organize," said Taufik, who is a graduate of Airlangga University's School of Law in Surabaya.
Citra Pamerindo was able to keep organizing events even during the worst of the country's economic crisis in 1998. While other event organizers were pulling back at that time, Citra Pamerindo was organizing an event a month from April to August 1998 in Surabaya, where the company is currently based.
It is also cross-subsidy management, according to Taufik, that enables Citra Pamerindo to organize events at a relatively cheaper price, requiring only some one-third to one-fifth of the price needed by other event organizers to put together an event.
"If another event organizer needs, say, Rp 15 million per event, for example, then we may need only some Rp 3 million to Rp 5 million for the same event," Taufik said.
Not hiring too many employees, according to Taufik, was another key to Citra Pamerindo's success. If another company needs dozens of employees to handle 70 events a year, Citra Pamerindo currently has just 20 employees.
"We don't need to have too many employees. One or two employees is enough to handle an event. They are trained to do so," said Siswo Prayitno, Citra Pamerindo's management director.
What is more important, according to Siswo, is networking. By having a strong network with all the supporting elements, including local governments, tent rental, air conditioner rental, flooring companies, artists and other supporting parties, everything just can be handled smoothly.
"So, once a deal is made for a particular event at a particular place, we know who to contact to execute the job. They are all here," said Siswo, pointing to his head. -- Sri Wahyuni