The Power of Yes

In light of the recent Mother’s Day celebration, it feels apt to highlight a supermom who not only balances her responsibilities at home but also plays an integral role in Jebsen & Jessen Group Services Sdn Bhd, also known as 'The HUB'. Since 2020, Dewi Ria Hastuti, the Credit & Cash Management Manager, has skillfully led her team in processing customer payments, collections, managing master data creation and maintaining general ledgers.

Dewi’s first project at Jebsen & Jessen was to migrate the Indonesia’s finance team to the HUB, “Typically migration project involves numerous physical meetings, especially during knowledge transfer. But unfortunately, the pandemic hit during that stage, and we had to improvise a lot during the process. With only 20 people in the HUB, mostly women who also need to take care of their families during the lockdown, it was a challenging situation. Thankfully, with a lot of support from the team and business units, we managed to go-Live as scheduled, which gave us the confidence to proceed with other foreign country migrations. It was a proud moment for all of us.”

While Dewi may be a familiar face at the HUB, some may not know that Dewi has been far from home for years. It was not an easy decision for her to leave her comfortable life in Indonesia and move to Malaysia to build a life with her Malaysian husband. She says “I had a strong support system, connections, and a promising future career in Jakarta, so it was really hard for me to let go of all those hard work and settle down in Malaysia instead, where I had to start everything from the bottom again”. It took her a few months to finally accept her new environment and enjoy living in Malaysia. “I became very comfortable that I don’t think I want my old life back. It is one of the best traits of being a woman - we are resilient and adaptable.”

Dewi’s ability to adapt to the advancing era of technology certainly shines through in her work. She introduced a more efficient and innovative way of reviewing the Group’s stocks and debtors, “This project is very impactful to me". She says “When I first learned how to use Power Bi (PBI) to standardise Trade & Debtor’s review in 2021, I didn’t expect it would be implemented widely in Jebsen & Jebsen. It was supposed to be a small project (monthly AR Aging review), so I learned it via YouTube tutorials because I didn’t want the HUB to spend so much on hiring professionals.”

But as time went by, she found PBI useful for other reports, not just for The HUB’s quarterly service review meetings or visit analysis. When the opportunity to implement PBI in the Executive Board's review was offered, Dewi was really excited,

“With standardisation, the meetings could go faster because everything is visible on one page and all details can be easily pulled. PBI also has an automation tool, which saves time in deck preparation. I had a chance to work with all Business Units, see their achievements, and help with the AR reports. I had a fruitful time and I appreciate all support from Michelle, The HUB’s team, Credit Controllers and Business Units that made that happen.”

Despite her responsibilities at work, Dewi tries to spend most of her free time with her child, “It might not be a relaxing activity because he’s in the active toddler stage, but this is the only time I can catch up with his developments after weekdays of not being fully attentive to him. Recently, we started playing badminton on the court every week. He is surprisingly good at it, and I really enjoy seeing his improvements in every session we have. I try to maintain a work-life balance by allocating the same hours at work and with my child. After a long and busy period at work, I usually will have a special day with my child. It’s called a “Yes Day” where I say yes to everything he wants. I would level with him and “be a child” again. We both always look forward to this day. We both know no matter how much time I spend at work, we will be compensated by a special fun day later.”

Dewi admits that being a working mom can be a constant struggle, “I get overwhelmed and lose myself as a person sometimes. Meeting friends and family who see me as a person not only as a mom, puts me back to centre. Adulthood friendships are difficult to maintain, but they are worth the effort.” Holding on to the very same principle, Dewi advises, “Try to say yes as much as possible. It radiates positivity and opens a lot of opportunities. If it works, you’ll shine. If it doesn’t work, you’ll learn. But at least you move towards something.”

The power of yes will challenge you to enthusiastically embrace every opportunity that comes your way. It’s not about being a “yes person” or having the pressure to do things you don’t want to do but it’s about being open to new ideas and focus on all possibilities – having the courage and conviction to do the things you know you really want to do. Saying yes requires you to be bold and adopting this mindset can change your future for the better. Just as Dewi said, even if it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you’ll learn something along the way.

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