EDITORIAL
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DEVELOPER'S JOURNEY Supplied by
Since establishing the privately owned group in 1996, Crown Group has evolved from a boutique operation to an enterprise with an established portfolio of projects across Australia and Indonesia in its pipeline worth $5 billion. The founder and chief executive, who has plans to take Crown Group public in 2021 with a float of no less than $1 billion, says he suffered from thoughts of not being good enough on his path to becoming a major property player. But it was humble beginnings for Sunito, as he grew up in what he describes as “the jungles of Indonesia,” a small town of Pangkalan Bun in East Kalimantan. When the crocodile infested river near his childhood home would rise, often flooding his house, Sunito says those were the times he’d take advantage of high tides and go swimming. “If you survived that, you were really making it,” Sunito said.
THE FIRST 5 YEARS OF STARTING CROWN “I DOUBTED”
Sunito easily commands the room with an air of confidence, but on seeing him most wouldn't guess he's wrestled with low self esteem. “When I grew up I had a lot of setbacks and failures,” he said. “I thought I was nobody. A lot of my self-talk was, ‘why was I born so stupid? “And I used to often talk myself into defeat,” Sunito told The Urban Developer. Sunito says he especially struggled when he arrived in Australia to complete his studies in architecture in the early nineties, the cultural differences combined with the philosophical language of the degree almost eluding him. “I nearly failed my first year. But i had a great teacher who became a mentor to me. I was, and still am, always hungry to learn.” It’s this awareness of his personal struggle Sunito brings to his business. “Often leaders think they have to know it all,” he says. “But don't be afraid to say you don't know.” And even after Crown Group’s 22 years of business and billions of dollars worth of property development, Sunito says self doubt doesn't go away. “I feel like giving up every development launch that we have,” he says. “Even in starting Crown Group, for the first five years I doubted if it would work.” Following his studies, Sunito originally started his own construction company building residential homes which he says
gave him the foundation to get into developing. The site was a parcel of land in Bondi Junction on Spring Street secured for $5 million that would kick start the company. After borrowing a large sum of money from his Dad, and contacting two of his friends to secure the deal, Crown Group was officially created, along with a 10-storey development they later sold for $28 million. “I thought developing would be something high risk, but also high return and I knew that’s where I wanted to be,” Sunito said. “Those early years I was only paying myself $20,000 a year... there were a lot of hard times.” Some 20 years later, Sunito says Crown Group has around 200 people running the operation. A man with a penchant for quotes and personal affirmations, Sunito says “you don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Mindful of his start in life, Sunito’s developments are informed by his upbringing in tropical East Kalimantan. “Jungle and water, these elements of nature inform my design,” Sunito says. “I don’t try to be something I’m not.” Sunito also says he was conscious of keeping the media at arms length until Crown Group really knew its brand. “I stayed out of the media for the first eight
