Akbar is a product development and marketing officer in the Business Development Unit at The SMERU Research Institute. He leads the development and implementation of SMERU's existing products. He also creates new products and marketing/promotional strategies to achieve the institution's financial sustainability while ensuring that the products and strategies are relevant to SMERU's work. Akbar's role includes capturing new markets and funding opportunities while maintaining substantive relationships among SMERU stakeholders.

Prior to joining SMERU, Akbar was mostly involved in the media industry, both conventional media and digital media, in Indonesia. Akbar has worked in several media organizations, such as Majalah Tempo magazine, Hard Rock FM Jakarta radio, Harian Kompas newspaper, and Kapanlagi Network (KLN) digital media group. His experience in sales and marketing over the past seven years has focused on developing media business strategies by connecting stakeholders, in this case advertisers, with media companies in matters ranging from market education to promotional activities.