Community Development Manager at DANA Indonesia and Former CEO of Satu Tampa
Patrice is building the startup ecosystem in Eastern Indonesia, whilst leveling the field for women workers and entrepreneurs outside Jakarta. The native Manadonese is a devoted advocate of collaboration as a way to solve problems.
“I’ve been there, done that. It makes me have empathy,” Patrice said.
Patrice comes from a humble family. Her parents were mid-level government officials who lived in a small town. To get extra income in college, she worked as a restaurant waitress, door-to-door sales, and as a Sales Promotion Girl (SPG).
These experiences taught her the values of hard work and humility. But beyond that, it also shaped her views on gender inequality and women’s position in the world.
“I realized a lot of women are really good at sales but if their beauty is gone by old age or whatnot, they won’t be sustainable. So we can’t just rely on our physical looks – we also need to be smart and have that critical thinking,” Patrice said.
After graduating from Universitas Sam Ratulangi, Patrice worked as an event organizer for several years. Putting together events on various topics led Patrice to gain a deeper understanding about her country’s potential. She also picked up some entrepreneurial skills along the way.
After a couple of years of learning, Patrice was motivated to create her first startup. It flopped. But the failure helped her discover her strength and weakness.
“I realized my passion was not competing but more about connecting people – finding what the problem is and the people to solve it within an ecosystem where the right people can cross paths,” Patrice said.
In 2016, Patrice started her own co-working space Satu Tampa, in Manado. Again, it failed. Rather than getting discouraged, Patrice chose to learn from the lesson: “Passion is not enough and your business won’t sustain – you also need money. That’s what I learned: how to get money and make money.”
As time passed, she met more people from both private and public sectors – including ANGIN (see page xx with Benedikta Atika) and KUMPUL (see page xx with Faye Alund). At Kumpul’s Startup Weekend, Patrice learned about creating impactful events for startups.
This enabled Satu Tampa to evolve from a mere coworking space to an ecosystem builder. It started to earn profits. The enterprise began to stabilize, and consequently able to hire more staff.
Today, the majority of Satu Tampa’s six-people team are women. It has been a conscious decision aimed at giving more women opportunities. When doing events, Patrice likes to invite more female speakers than male ones.
For Patrice, using a gender lens means creating an ignition for women to participate more in the ecosystem. It begins with giving women the opportunities and the stage.
From her experience in Manado, Patrice thinks that women tend to be more active and involved in communities and organizations. This characteristic opens up a lot more ways to cultivate and develop women’s potentials.
“It’s time to scale up and stop playing small,” Patrice said, believing there are huge opportunities waiting to be discovered by going online.
“Right now women are closer to small industries, but here, we are trying to make it so women are up-to-date with the latest technologies. We are trying to get more women in tech,” she added.
To strengthen GLI, Patrice emphasizes the importance of networking and sisterhood. “If women can’t defend other women, then who will? I always say, If you have a hundred million, give eighty to the women and the rest to the men. Use our own network.”
But supporting women does not mean giving resources to people who do not deserve it. “No pity grants,” Patrice said. Supporting women means giving them time and energy, giving them challenges and opportunities to grow. It means really building their capacity, whether by following up on training given or competitions.
