Early Years In Life

Iwan' comes from humble beginnings. He was born in Surabaya, Indonesia, in 1966. For the first twelves years of his life, he grew up in Pangkalan Bun, which is a remote area in Indonesia. After he finished elementary school, he relocated to Surabaya city to start his high school education. When Iwan was 18, he migrated to Sydney in order to complete his education in high school.

Education

Iwan's school years were challenging. He had always struggled with performing well academically. Hi move to Sydney provided him with the chance to start afresh and break away from the limitations that he faced in the past. Because he had a heavy accent, that also made things difficult. However, he did not allow that to hinder him from achieving his goals.

Iwan’s success did not happen overnight. Although he earned his undergraduate degree in architecture, it was not his first choice for his education. He really wanted to become an aircraft engineer. He spent his free time designing and creating model airplanes. The first years of his college life were difficult too, and his academic performance was often not up to par. However, he never allowed this to discourage him. In 1992, he graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Architecture (Hons.) degree. During the next year, he earned his Master of Construction Management degree.

Career

After Iwan finished his graduate degree, he decided not to return to Indonesia. Instead, he found employment with Cox Richardson Architects. Iwan recognized the huge opportunities in Sydney. Even though he started out as an employee, it was always been his dream to become an entrepreneur and run his own business. After just six months on the job, Iwan resigned and developed his own architectural firm, Joshua International Architects.

In his first project, Iwan constructed 55 residential units in the Bondi Junction area. He partnered with Paul Sathio, who was another Indonesian that he met when they were attending the university. Paul had ten years of experience in the property business market already. Despite that, Iwan knew that a bigger company would be better positioned to take on larger projects and to publicize its company effectively. In 1996, the two men co-founded Crown International Holdings Group.

Although it was challenging to become an entrepreneur, Iwan is grateful for the fact that the government in Australia made it easy to run a business. In Indonesia, doing business would have been a lot harder. A common problem deals with the issuing of dual certificates. However, Iwan’s primary reason for creating his business in Australia was to learn more about the country’s geography and its potentials.

Iwan is 46-years-old and has a wife and three children. Not many people in Indonesia have what it takes to become successful in other lands as Iwan has. He attributes his success to his focus, passion and hard work.