Jakarta. Business magazine SWA recently named Melissa Siska Juminto, the Chief Operating Officer of Indonesian tech behemoth Tokopedia, as one of The Most Extraordinary Women Business Leaders of 2022.

The award recognizes 18 women who have demonstrated stellar business leadership, particularly amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Alexandra Askandar, the Deputy Chief Executive of the state-owned Bank Mandiri, was among the awardees. Also joining Melissa were Connie Ang, the Chief Executive Officer of food company Danone Indonesia, as well as FM Venusiana R, the Consumer Service Director at state-owned telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia.

On a 0-100 scale, Melissa earned a total score of 89.38 for her leadership. This made Melissa the second top overall scorer out of the 18 women business leaders. The scoring took into account the women leaders’ strategies in navigating the pandemic, including on employee health and business. It also evaluated the results of the said strategies, which took the largest share of the overall scoring.

“As the COO, I am responsible for the overall operations of the company, including office operations, managing business growth, and becoming a partner to the CEO in formulating the business directions and the subsequent policies,” Melissa was quoted as saying by SWA.

Melissa’s mid-pandemic policies included a 100-percent work-from-home (WFH) policy to keep Tokopedia’s employees —who also go by the moniker “Nakama”— safe from the coronavirus, according to SWA. With mental health being as important as physical health, Tokopedia also offers psychological counseling to support Nakama's mental wellbeing.

“Tokopedia believes the success of strategy starts with the people. Business outcomes have always been the results of the team within,” Melissa said.

SWA’s Most Extraordinary Women Business Leaders of 2022 awarding assessment followed a three-stage selection process. 

It kicked off with a shortlisting of candidates by a desk research, which assessed the short or long-term impact of the breakthroughs made during the candidate’s leadership. Another parameter is the company must embrace good corporate governance and a sustainable business. The second stage was a written interview, and later followed by judges scoring.