We Built Mekari to Simplify Business Operations, So Leaders Can Focus on Growth, Innovation, and People: Suwandi Soh, CEO of Mekari

Mekari is a business software platform designed to meet the diverse operational needs of Southeast Asian businesses. It brings together features for HR, accounting, payroll, operations, and productivity in a single interface. The company helps growing businesses handle complex administration without juggling multiple tools, so founders, managers, and teams can stay focused on building value.

Suwandi Soh co-founded Mekari with the aim of bridging a technological divide. Growing up and working in Indonesia, he witnessed the challenges SMEs faced such as manual processes, fragmented systems, and the constant struggle to stay compliant amid rapid change. By uniting essential functions into an integrated platform, Mekari seeks to give businesses clarity and control, so they can scale sustainably.

From Idea to Impact

Suwandi reflects on the early days with a hint of pride. He and his co-founders noticed that many business leaders spent more time managing paperwork than managing their strategy. That made the team believe in the need for a platform that simplifies work and empowers people.

They started small, with focused modules like HR and payroll. As customers began to rely on the software and demand grew, the team expanded the range to include accounting, expenses management, operations planning, and analytics tools. Growth was steady and rooted in customer feedback, not flashy pitches. “Our goal was to solve practical problems first,” Suwandi says. Over time, Mekari became famously known as a unified software suite built around real businesses, not the other way around.

Helping Businesses Work Smarter

Mekari shines brightest in its ability to help SMEs and mid-sized firms work smarter. Branch managers, HR leaders, finance teams and operations heads all use the platform differently, but everyone benefits from clarity. The platform ensures that payroll is accurate, financial records are clean, compliance deadlines are met, operations are visible, and teams stay connected.

Rather than ask users to learn multiple tools, the product experience adapts to their role and filters out distractions. The result is faster onboarding, less confusion, and better efficiency. Suwandi notes that as teams grow, the difference between seamless systems and scattered tools becomes day and night.

Scaling Across Southeast Asia

Although Mekari began in Indonesia, it now serves businesses across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Suwandi recognizes that growth is not just about scaling technology, but also about understanding local needs, from languages and regulations to cultural work styles.

In each market, Mekari ensures the software reflects local tax rules, language, statutory forms, and business norms. “We believe global standards must adapt to local realities,” Suwandi explains. That approach helps business owners feel confident that the platform speaks their language, literally and practically.

Culture That Fosters Innovation

Behind Mekari’s technology is a team culture rooted in collaboration, empathy, and continuous improvement. Suwandi emphasizes that the best ideas often come from unexpected places such as support staff, product testers, and sales teams. The company encourages everyone to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and build together.

He also believes in staying grounded. Rather than chase growth at any cost, Mekari focuses on creating meaningful impact for users. This mindset guides who they hire, how they build features, and how they serve customers during busy seasons or regulatory rollouts.

Empowering Businesses with Data

Operating on a unified platform brings one powerful advantage: data. Mekari captures workplace insights across functions in real time, from headcount changes and expense patterns to cash flow trends and productivity signals. That data fuels dashboards, forecasting tools, and even recommendations.

Suwandi points out that analytics is not just for top executives anymore. Department managers use the platform to track performance, plan budgets, hire proactively, and discover bottlenecks before they hurt. This shift turns business data from a passive record into a strategic asset.

Staying Agile Amid Change

Economic shifts, regulatory updates, and talent shortages are constant features of the region’s business landscape. Mekari builds with flexibility in mind. Modules are updated as conditions change and new features respond to evolving customer needs. That agility keeps the product relevant, reliable, and aligned with business realities.

When new laws emerge or economic tides shift, Mekari’s customers don’t wait weeks. They log in and the software adjusts, whether that means updated salary slips or budget planning tools. That reliability lets teams keep driving growth without hitting operational roadblocks.

Supporting Human Potential

Suwandi’s vision has always centered on enabling people. He often says that software should be invisible, it serves people, not get in their way. “We built Mekari to simplify business operations, so leaders can focus on growth, innovation, and people,” he shares. Business digitization should free up time and energy for creativity, collaboration, and leadership, not create new complexity.

Mekari isn’t just about software deployment, it’s about helping businesses bring out their best by handling the details that bog teams down.

Leadership Rooted in Purpose

Suwandi draws on a background in consulting and leadership roles to shape Mekari’s growth. He remembers being surprised by how much innovation and passion came from unexpected places, junior team members, customer feedback sessions, and user experience sessions with business owners.

He encourages leaders to ask open questions, listen deeply, and build with feedback. “Leadership is not about telling. It’s about guiding and responding to the people you serve,” he says. That philosophy shapes Mekari’s product roadmap, customer support, and workplace culture alike.

What’s Next for Mekari

Mekari plans to deepen its suite of offerings. Features like embedded finance, borrowing tools, and advisory services aim to connect platforms directly to capital sources. The goal is to help businesses thrive not just today, but in the next stage of their growth.

Suwandi sees a future where Mekari becomes a lifelong partner to Southeast Asian businesses, helping them navigate challenges, tap into opportunities, and reinvent themselves as times change. He envisions leaders powered by insight, teams anchored in clarity, and software that elevates human potential.

Mekari’s journey so far shows that building software is not just about lines of code, but about listening to businesses, crafting tools that empower them, and growing with empathy and purpose.

Suwandi Soh, CEO, Mekari

We at Mekari are dedicated to empowering businesses and professionals. Today, our suite of products, including Mekari Talenta, Jurnal, Klikpajak, Qontak, Flex, and eSign, supports hundreds of thousands of users by simplifying workflows and helping them grow.