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Every career has a moment where a single yes opens the door to something more. ‘Yes Moments’ is a blog series that celebrate the choices that sparked opportunities and shaped the professional journeys of our people.
Enver’s career journey at OCBC began in Indonesia with the Graduate Talent Programme and expanded into a regional role based in Singapore.
Read his story to find out how he contributes to policy discussions, works at the intersection of markets and policy conversations, advises boards, and represents the bank as an ASEAN Economist at a workplace that enables continuous learning and development.
There is a Javanese saying, “urip iku urup,” which literally means “life is a flame.” It is a reminder I carry with me in my career, that progress is also about being of value to others.
Today, I work as an ASEAN Economist, covering regional macroeconomic developments and publishing research for a broad range of audiences. The role involves close engagement with clients, senior management, and policymakers, translating analysis into insights that matter in real world conversations and decisions.
My career was never a linear path. It has been shaped by intention and a series of small decisions to say yes, often before feeling fully certain.
When I graduated from university in the United Kingdom in 2018, I knew I wanted an international career while also contributing meaningfully to Indonesia’s economic landscape. That dual perspective naturally led me to OCBC Indonesia, part of the broader OCBC Group.
I joined the Graduate Talent Programme and approached each rotation as an opportunity to learn and adapt. Looking back, it was my first meaningful “yes”.
Learning the Basics
My first rotation was in Cash Management within corporate banking, where I was introduced to how large corporates manage liquidity and working capital. The gap between “personal finance” and “corporate treasury solutions” turned out to be much wider than I expected, and those early weeks involved a lot of notetakings and learning the fundamentals.
One defining experience was working on OCBC Velocity, the bank’s digital corporate banking platform. I took primary responsibility for conducting large scale client surveys, translating the findings into recommendations, and presenting them to senior management.
Within my first six months, some insights were incorporated into platform enhancements. When the CEO later referenced our findings, it reinforced an early lesson, one that some of the best growth comes from saying yes before you feel fully ready.
Saying Yes to the Unfamiliar
After building a foundation in corporate banking, I had the opportunity to rotate into the wealth management and innovation space. Compared to my earlier role, this environment felt closer to a startup, with smaller teams, less structure, and a faster pace of experimentation.
Part of the work involved research into personal investing behaviour and the broader advisory landscape. These insights helped shape the robo advisory customer journey, from how clients think about investing to how digital tools can support decisions in a more intuitive and accessible way. It pushed me to think more deeply from a retail client’s perspective, beyond what works operationally.
What I found particularly valuable was working closely across teams, from product and business to IT and external partners. Aligning different perspectives was just as important as technical understanding in moving ideas forward.
More importantly, this phase shaped how I think about impact. At a time when mobile access in Indonesia was expanding rapidly, financial literacy was not always keeping pace. It reinforced the importance of supporting not just financial inclusion, but better understanding of financial decisions.
Finding My Voice as an Economist
Over time, I found myself increasingly drawn to broader economic questions, like how markets move, how policy decisions shape outcomes, and how these dynamics affect businesses and individuals.
That curiosity led to my final rotation with the Global Markets team, which later became my full-time role as an Economic Analyst at OCBC Indonesia. It marked a move into a more specialised field, requiring new skills in interpreting data, forming views, and communicating them clearly.
I was part of the team that established OCBC Indonesia’s first onshore economic analyst desk, working closely with the Singapore based research team while engaging local stakeholders during the pandemic.
Early on, I represented the bank in discussions with clients, regulators and policymakers, often as one of the more junior voices in the room, while contributing to initiatives such as weekly market updates and Ministry of Finance retail bond roadshows.
This phase was about learning how to think, connect ideas, and communicate them in a way that is useful to others.
A Bigger Stage
In 2023, the opportunity came for me to move to OCBC Singapore. Saying “yes” to the ASEAN Economist role meant stepping into a broader regional scope and building on what I had started in Indonesia. The transition was exciting.
Working under the guidance of Group Chief Economist Selena Ling, I found myself surrounded by colleagues who are experts in their fields. It is a team that is open, supportive, and genuinely enjoyable to be part of.
The move to Singapore never really felt like starting over. It felt more like stepping onto a bigger stage.
Still Learning, Just Differently
In 2024, I decided to pursue a part time Master’s in Economics at Singapore Management University while working full time, which I have since completed. It was a deliberate investment in long term growth.
I am fortunate to be in an organization that genuinely supports continuous learning with colleagues who did not make me feel strange for voluntarily adding more reading to my life.
Occasionally, when a concept from a lecture showed up in something I was writing for work, it became a simple reminder of why the effort was worthwhile.
7+ Years on, Still Saying Yes
In many ways, my journey has been a series of saying yes first, and then doing the work to grow with each step.
What made that possible, consistently, was the people.
Colleagues who took time to explain, managers who handed me responsibility before I felt ready, teammates who made challenging periods lighter, and mentors who shaped how I think about my work today. After seven over years in, across two countries and several roles, the clearest thread running is the people I have been fortunate enough to learn from and work with.
Looking ahead, my aim is to continue deepening my expertise in ASEAN economics, while never losing sight of what numbers mean for real people and real businesses.
The right next step rarely announces itself. More often, it asks whether you are willing to say yes, and whether you have the right people around you when you do.
I have been fortunate on both counts.
Every journey starts with a choice. When was the last time you said yes?
Opportunity Starts Here.
