Katsumi Takekawa, President and CEO of Bebo Co., Ltd.

Winning the hearts of customers with support that disregards efficiency

President and CEO of Bebo Co., Ltd.
Katsumi Takegawa

Born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1984. While attending university, she joined a company that published a newly launched fashion-related free paper. After graduating, she continued to work in management for about a year, then moved to Tokyo and started working for a web marketing company. In 2010, she founded Webtank Japan Co., Ltd. (the predecessor to Bebo Co., Ltd.). She is currently focusing on businesses that support women's life events, including D2C and career businesses, while also focusing on overseas expansion.

Bebo Co., Ltd. continues to pursue the philosophy of "customer first" throughout the organization. President Takekawa continues to ask himself, "How will I use my life for the world? What value will I provide to the world through my business?" We spoke to the president, who says that an encounter with a book was a major catalyst that led him to become a manager.

For the first two years of university, I spent my time playing around like a typical university student. Every day was fun, but that was all, and I didn't really think deeply about my life. Then, at the end of my second year, I read Ryotaro Shiba's novel "Ryoma ga Yuku," which became a major turning point for me. "Ryoma ga Yuku" is a novel about patriots from the end of the Edo period, who live each day without regret, thinking about how they would use their lives for Japan, even though they could be killed at any moment. Seeing them like this made me wonder, "What am I doing now?" and began to think about how I wanted to use my 2 years of life for the world. Around the time of this change, there was a boom in student entrepreneurship. The image of entrepreneurs in action overlapped with the image of the patriots from the end of the Edo period. This was the first major event that led to my current immersion in the business world.

Once you've made a decision, take action immediately and start a company.

I started a company producing fashion magazines with someone I met while working at an NPO supporting entrepreneurs. I'm the type of person who acts quickly once I make a decision, so this happened a month or two after I read "Ryuma ga Yuku." I worked on the business for a little over a year, and when I turned 23, I decided I wanted to provide greater value to the world. If I was going to go, Tokyo had to be it, so I moved from Osaka to Tokyo. When I thought about what I wanted to do in Tokyo, I decided I wanted to work in the internet and digital fields, which will become essential in the future. After working as a salaryman at a digital marketing consulting company for three and a half years, I founded my current company, Bivo, Inc., at the age of 26. At first, I worked alone for about a year and a half, consulting on website launches and website traffic generation. However, when I thought about what kind of value I wanted to create for the world and what I wanted to do with my life, I realized I wouldn't reach my goals if I continued like this. This was my opportunity to work with my colleagues to think about what kind of services we could provide, and we have continued to expand our business to this day.

The most important thing is the customer first

Building people and organizations is something I struggle with but never seem to find the answer to. Over the past five or six years, I've spent about 70% of my time building organizations. Unless everyone truly shares the direction BIBO is aiming for and works together with us, we won't achieve the results we want, and we won't be able to create the services we want. The most important thing about that direction is putting the customer first. I've always valued the attitude of ignoring efficiency and pursuing what's important to our customers. The first product we created was a diet drink, but as we sold it, I realized that what we should be offering isn't just a drink. Customers don't want the product itself; they want to achieve their goals. To put it bluntly, if we can achieve that, we don't need the product. Each customer is assigned a dedicated support team member, and sometimes we'll spend three hours on the phone supporting one customer. I think the appeal of BIBO lies in this culture of disregarding efficiency and pursuing what's important to us.

Future new business developments

As a company, we are currently engaged in a wide range of activities, including D2C business, media app management, career support, rental business, and medical services, with half of our customers being women who are trying to conceive or are currently pregnant. First of all, we value our connections with people in this field, and we want to be there for them at every stage of their life, not just from trying to conceive to the pregnancy period, but also by providing the services they need as their child grows after birth. To achieve this, we need to continue to develop new services and evolve our services.

＊message＊

I want people to value giving 5% of their effort to what is in front of them. Rather than worrying about the future five or ten years from now, I think people who always give 10% to what is in front of them will ultimately grow.
I think the reason why people who want to grow don't grow as much is because they make growth their goal. Growth is not something to aim for, but a result that comes after experiencing many things. People often say, "Only those who have climbed the mountain know what lies beyond it," but if you were told in advance what is on the other side of the mountain, you wouldn't climb it. But only those who have climbed it can strengthen their legs and backs, and that is growth.

From the April 20, 2020 issue of the Student Newspaper (by Nao Suzuki, third-year student at International Christian University)

•