Ngomik.com - Drawing a Line from Comic Artists to Fans

A joke says that in Japan they use more paper for comics (manga, the Japanese comics) than for toilet paper! Well, whether fact or myth any good entrepreneur can see the big opportunity there, even better if that entrepreneur also happens to love comics for the fun and artistic sides.

Wisnu Manupraba, founder of Ngomik.com, is exactly that and more!

Ngomik.com itself is a startup that facilitates local comic artists to publish their works digitally, so everyone can read their comics on mobile devices or on the web.

The idea came to Wisnu as he realized that mobile devices are everywhere, - even kids nowadays have smartphones! - while on the other side comic artists are struggling to publish their works due to the lack of funding and sufficient royalty. So there is an opportunity if one could connect the dots. Thus Ngomik.com was born. It has evolved through the many input from its users and now hosts about 6,500 titles, with a total of 11,000 chapters going forward.

The world of comics of course doesn't stop there. Much of the intellectual property there, especially the characters, can be made into merchandizes or marketing contents. And who knows if one day the stories can be adapted into TV series or movies!

Wisnu himself has won multiple awards from Indigo, Bubu, and Ideabox. A bit about his background, he graduated in 2008 from Institut Teknologi Bandung, where he majored in IT. After that he and some friends immediately put their mind to starting a business, including running an internet cafe called Javan. The same 'Javan' team became Javanlabs that has brought about some great products such as Ngomik.com, Hartaku.com, and Ngasong.com. They've also had some experience catering to big Indonesian institutions like Bank BTPN, Telkom Sigma, the Ministry of Communications and IT, and the State Electricity Company.

Wisnu also participates actively in helping budding entrepreneurs - in startup communities and also in universities.

For example, in September 2015, he joined Tech In Asia Campus Visit in Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta recently. He shared his live story and the journey of his startup(s) - Ngomik.com. His closing remarks and wise advice to the students, quoting Henry Ford - "Whether you can think you can or you can’t, you are right"