Plépah, a History in the Making
Plépah started when the three Founders with a background in product design joined their hands over their mutual concerns in environmental and social issues. Collectively, they utilize design as a tool to investigate and tackle complex social issues across sectors, cultivating innovative ideas to deliver long-lasting impact. As time went on, they grew by strengthening their team with a group of researchers, community development experts, and business developers and establishing Footloose Initiative and Plépah as one of their pilot projects.
Starting from the problem of single-use plastic waste that is increasingly mounting, making Indonesia the second largest contributor of waste to the world’s seas, Plépah intends to provide alternative solutions to this issue through environmentally friendly packaging. By utilizing agricultural waste, the first material they explored was Areca palm sheath waste, which was previously part of a small issue faced by farmers. This basic material is sterilized and processed into food packaging such as plates, bowls and takeaway packages.
Through this process, Plépah contributes to the empowerment of small farmers by building capacity and creating new job opportunities. With the community as the main focus, Plépah strives to apply the micro-manufacturing method through the establishment of various workshops spread across several provinces throughout Indonesia. This allows for a local production process which in the long run can contribute to local economies throughout Indonesia.
Analyzing the Target Market
The main identified market for Plépah product solution is for F&B with a B2B focus. Almirah, the COO and one of its co-founders, identify the stakeholders that have the highest potential to adopt their product to be the food businesses in A-B segment. This segment consists of F&B players that have a similar vision for sustainability, fair trade, environmental impact and businesses who are determined to fulfill their vision.
On the other hand, the identified market of Plépah are events and the hospitality industry. The market share for alternative packaging materials such as Plépah can be estimated at 140 million packages per month.
Their micro-manufacturing solution can be applied throughout Indonesia, with the focus of areas where large concentrations of the raw material are located, as they try to shorten the distance between manufacturing and raw material for production efficiency.
Tackling Environmental Issues while Supporting the Local Economy
The main impact of Plépah is the development of resilient local economies, through an inclusive business model that reduces environmental burden, as one of the potential approaches in withstanding the wide variety of crises in Indonesia. The projected high demand of the product is expected to provide more jobs and increase livelihood for the local communities within the scheme. In addition, through various capacity building programs aimed at farmers and other related communities, public awareness of waste issues that occur are increased throughout and the addition of hard skills and innovative production processes are also increased within the community.
For their customers, Plépah introduced an innovative and affordable local product that advocates economic value and the use of upcycled agriculture waste such as leaf sheaths that possess unique natural fibre patterns would distinguish the customers’ product in contrast to other eco-friendly materials in the market. As an addition, the products are designed in a way that enables its surface as a potential medium to advertise the customers’ information to increase brand awareness.
Through designing environmentally friendly products, the scheme provides an alternative solution towards single-use packaging that is contributing to the global waste issue. This approach contributes to sustainable solutions through environmental conservation, commodity replantation and generating economic stability to the local communities involved.
Plépah, a History in the Making
Plépah team started their project at the end of 2018 and begun an independent research at the beginning of 2019. In 2019, they joined LPiK ITB (Lembaga Pengembangan Inovasi dan Kewirausahaan) incubation program where they received a grant to create their first machine. In the same year, they joined Zoological Society of London Indonesia’s Kelola Sendang Community Livelihood Program where they established production place and started community development in Mendis Village, Musi Banyuasin and supplied area pockets in Tanjung Jabung Timur, Jambi. This led to the establishment of their company legally at the end of 2019 as PT. Jentera Garda Futura.
Not stopping there they started production and commercialization of Plépah products, registered the Brand, Design Industry and Process Patent for Plépah products, combined research with LIPI for product development in bio-composite products, and received a grant from Musi Banyuasin Regional Government to increase production capacity throughout 2020. Currently, they have four machines running with a total production capacity of 10,000 pcs/month.
Moving forward, they have created a solid 3-years plan to ensure the actualization of their long term vision.
Year 1
- Maximizing production with additional machines to increase product output to 384.000 pcs/year.
- Acceleration of product commercialization through market expansion & focus on boosting product sales
- Human resources expansion
- Cradle to gate circular process
Year 2
- Increase production capacity
- Material research and development for product diversification
- Mapping out production site for expansion
Year 3
- Sustaining the business
- Production site expansion into other regions
- Implementing a more circular system from cradle to cradle
Plépah team consists of:
Fadhlan Makarim MBA – CEO & Co-founder
- Photographer for IKKON SINGKAWANG, BEKRAF 2018
- Project Manager Jejakjejik Film 2014-2016
- Chief Marketing Officer EDITH LAB 2017
Almira Zulfikar M.Ds – COO & Co-founder
- Product Design Researcher for IKKON WAKATOBI, BEKRAF 2018
- Design Researcher for Desa Sejahtera Astra: Wakatobi 2019-2020
- Product Designer for Ministry of Trade Republic of Indonesia Designer Dispatch Service Program
Rengkuh Banyu S.Ds – CTO & Co-Founder
- Product Design Researcher for IKKON WAKATOBI, BEKRAF 2018
- Design Researcher for Desa Sejahtera Astra: Wakatobi 2019-2020
- Product Designer for Ministry of Trade Republic of Indonesia Designer Dispatch Service Program
- Award
- Plépah won Indonesia Fashion & Craft Awards 2019 by Ministry of Industry
Moh. Tamzil SH. M. Kn. – CBD & Legal Director
- Business Development Advisor for Yayasan Penabulu
- Business Development Advisor for PT. Astungkara Darma
Dr. Teguh Triono. SP, M.Sc. – Board of Commissary Chairman
- Lecturer at Wilmar Business Indonesia Polytechnic
- Sustainability Engagement PT. Dharma Satya Nusantara Tbk.
- Program Director of Yayasan KEHATI
- Chief Grant Advisor of Yayasan Penabulu
- Technical Advisor of Kelola Sendang Project, Zoological Society of London Indonesia
Bintang Heru MBA– Board of Commissary & Finance Director
- Managing Director of PT. Teknika Media Okular
- Project Manager of Niraga Studio
- Finance Associate of Aparremen Rakyat Project
- Co-founder of After Idea
Bandu Darmawan S.Sn – Multimedia Technology Engineer
- Embedded Software Engineer at RMZ Associates
- Creative Director of Senja Solutions
- Art Director of PT. Teknika Media Okuler
- Award:
- Young Artist Award – Artjog 2018
- Best Artist BaCAA (Bandung Contemporary Art Award) 2019
- International Exhibition:
- London Design Biennale 2016
Maulana Ahmad S.Ds – Design Development Engineer
- Technical Manager of PT. Teknika Media Okuler
- Industrial Designer for PT. Esta Indonesia & PT. Ravelware Teknologi
- Industrial Designer for Nazava Water Filter
- Technical Director for Indonesian Pavillion at Venice Art Biennale 2019
Aisha Marzuki MA – Innovation Management
- Senior Analyst at Kopernik
- Head of Exploration at UNPD Accelerator Labs
- Technical assistant & business development capacity building to women-empowerment for 9 NGOs & respective MSMEs with DFAT Australia’s MAMPU
Wijaya Asmara M.E.S – Community Development Manager
- Community Sector Manager of Kelola Sendang Project, Zoological Society of London Indonesia
- Centre Manager in Aceh for Habitat for Humanity
- Project Manager for Yayasan Danamon Peduli
- Community Development Coordinator for Sampoerna Microfinance and Bank Sahabat Sampoerna
Ilyas Zainul S.Ds – Marketing Strategist
- Technical Product Marketing & Sales at Nike Indonesia
Gamia Dewanggamanik MA – Design Researcher
- Phd Candidate Glasgow School of Art
- Design Researcher for IKKON WAKATOBI, BEKRAF 2018
- Design Researcher for Desa Sejahtera Astra: Wakatobi 2019-2020
