IT all started with a series of rejections. Forty-three-year-old Johan Budi Shivas wish to work at an enterprise was never realized. I sent out dozens of application letters, but none was successful, recalls Johan.

As it turned out, those rejections served as adrenaline boosts for Johan. In the guestroom of his parents-in-laws home in Jalan Bukit Barisan, Malang, East Java, Johan and his wife Swandayani hatched an idea. Toward the end of 1990, wit