Tag: entrepreneurship

[RECAP] Universitas AMIKOM Yogyakarta x ANGIN

Posted on | by angin

On April 9 – 10, Meredith Peng from Connector.ID and Nadira Dinisari from ANGIN were invited as guest speakers at Universitas AMIKOM Yogyakarta Career Day. Bringing up the subject on how to be a successful entrepreneur and professional, Meredith talked about how entrepreneurship can be done in all aspects of life while Nadira shared her hacks on how to be more happy at work.

Meredith’s talk pointed out ten ways to be entrepreneurial in everyday life: from staying mindful to constant learning, realizing your founder-market fit and not shying away from mentorship and help. These tips can be applied not only to entrepreneurs but really anyone who has an entrepreneurial mindset in constantly creating and taking ownership of one’s life.

The strongest point from Nadira’s discussion is how important it is to be grateful even for the little things. A grateful heart will lead to being happy in work, and subsequently in life. Counting our blessings is one of the sure fire way to be grateful each day. Another important point is that it is important to know why you’re doing what you’re doing. It serves as a purpose that would always guide you back to your path, be it in your career or life in general.

Aside from speaking to the soon-to-be graduates, Meredith and Nadira also met with promising startups and entrepreneurs that are part of the AMIKOM Incubation Program. It was refreshing to see the ideas that these university students have come up with. As ANGIN, we hope that this is only the start to mark our presence there. In the future, we aim to expand our ecosystem to Yogyakarta and other cities in Indonesia as well.

 

Fany Okthalia of Wonderlabs Academy

Posted on | by angin

Tell me a bit about yourselves.

My name is Okthalia. I’m a business major student. Aside from being a student, I’m also involved with female empowerment. I inspire to be a changemaker, no matter what others say. I’m really concerned about women’s rights and how women are usually misjudged in society. Maybe that’s what inspired me to do something and be the voice for women to be heard.

My name is Isthofany Irfana Azkiya (or Fany for short) and I am a female software engineer. I always wonder why people hold the stereotype that women cannot be skilled in tech? Why they can’t be prominent in the tech industry? Actually, women can make it as programmers. My goal is to change the perception of women in the tech industry, to show that women can be programmers, too.

Can you tell me a little bit more about the inequalities you’ve noticed in the tech industry and society in general? What stories out there have inspire you to do this?

Okthalia: Actually if you ask it like that, I’m afraid it will be out of scope of our concern in Wonderlabs Academy. but I’m just going to say what I feel. In Indonesia, some people  – whether we like it or not – some people think women still belong in the kitchen, or are born to be housewives, cooking and taking care of kids. And when a woman has a higher status than a man, nobody wants to approach her because men certainly want to be higher in status than women, right?

There’s something that really bothers me a lot — how religion is mistakenly correlated with culture. For instance – I’m a Muslim, and Islamic tradition does not promote disrespecting women. But somehow in [Indonesia] we still believe that women are not capable of leading. It’s,  you know, the belief that women just belong in the kitchen and need to have kids and everything. It is true that women have emotions and might be more empathetic than men, but that doesn’t mean that the degree of a woman is worth less than that of a man.

So in starting Wonderlabs Academy, what challenges have you faced? How do you make yourselves keep going?

Fany: We just started the pilot project, so this is the first batch, the first cohort. The enthusiasm is good. We got 78 applicants, but we could only accept 8 due to limited resources. We luckily have had no hate comments or objections or anything like that.

Okthalia: The challenges we face are actually general challenges. It’s a challenge people face in running a school, such as how to convince the participants that what they’re learning matters, and teaching the participants effectively. Another challenge is in finding resources to teach them.

What’s your vision? Your long-term goal for Wonderlabs Academy?

Fany: I hope there will be more women in technology. Women are good – we are better than men in some ways (laughs). Just kidding. But we have to be confident. We can do it.

Okthalia: Actually, the tech sector is really interesting and it really brings benefits to women. We understand that women want to take care of their children. Actually, you can do that in the tech industry – you can work from home.

What are some tech trends or news that excite you?

Fany: We want to support our government program – 1000 Startup Digital. 1000 Startup Digital is a government program in which the government wants to support and create 1000 startups. It’s something that is new for Indonesia, but startups are rapidly growing here. For example, GO-JEK, Grab, Kitabisa, Bukalapak, Traveloka, etc.

What is one thing you want to tell girls out there who want to be developers but are unsure about themselves?

Fany: We have to be brave and believe that we can do it. If we are really patient and really want to learn, we can be good programmers.

Okthalia: For me, for the developer, it’s that yeah, I think it’s pretty much like Steve Job’s message: If you want to succeed in a goal, you have to be curious and dig deep to find the insights you need to get there.

 

Sunarni Widyastuti of Repong Indonesia

Posted on | by angin

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Sunarni Widyastuti. I am from Repong Indonesia, a social enterprise that provides environmental services for tourism within the state forest area in Lampung, as well as agro-tourism outside of the forest area. Our aim is to assist the forest farmers in the area, to be less dependent on forest resources, and thus to prevent further destruction to the forestlands. By finding alternative sources of income for local people and their economy, we are able to maintain the sustainability of the forest, protect its biodiversity, and increase the animal population. For example, we help locals manufacture products made from non-wood materials such as honey, handicrafts from bamboo, etc.

We want to enhance environmental awareness as well as nurture the ecosystem balance and sustainability of the lives of the people surrounding the region through business. Business is one of the keys to ensuring environmental preservation – that the environment is continually maintained. We hope to increase the population of wild animals and maintain harmony within the community. That is our hope.

What motivated you to work for this enterprise?

First, because we have a vision to maintain the balance of the forest ecosystem and prevent it from being exploited. Secondly, in doing so, the local community needs to find new ways of earning a living. Thus by using a tour permit, people are able to sell forest resources legally while contributing to the local economy. Previously, much of the forest area was deemed illegal for extracting resources whereas now farmers can benefit from the forests and maintain a livelihood. Our priority is within the state forest region as well as outside this area.

We also strive to protect the animal population. At the moment, we have a conservation program for animals prone to extinction such as the rhinoceros as well as a variety of bird species. Visitors are also invited to plant trees together to promote forest regrowth from forest fires. We are also experiencing human conflicts with elephants within the forest. In order to be a sustainable business, we have to make sure that people are not dependent on the forest, and that the animals are also not disturbed.

What particular challenges have you faced thus far?

At the moment, we are having difficulties with sustaining our projects financially over a longer period of time. We try to fundraise, however, and have received a considerable amount of local government grants and village funds. However this is still not yet optimal, so the role of our NGO is to provide intensive assistance to the local community in the case that the government has not been able to meet our financial demands.

How do you go about overcoming these obstacles?

 

Generally, we rely on the sharing of community resources and mutual cooperation. For example, we reach out to local governments and districts when we are urgently short on funding. After that, we look to NGOs such as WWF and WCS. And if there are still shortcomings, we look for more donors until we fulfil our needs. Indeed, it is not sustainable, so it is our role as an NGO to network and attend forums on entrepreneurship for example, to improve our business. Either way it is not easy, but urgent matters can always be overcome. We have had 20 years of experience in this field, and the community has been able to handle business independently.

What can we do to help this cause?

The development of our enterprise is something we need to prioritize at the moment. Particularly in terms of the sustainability and scalability of it. Both of these aspects are important as our business does in fact need diversification so that it can become attractive to buyers and investors. Because of the nature of services, there needs to be some sort of business diversification which is why we offer some tour packages. So the packages may have things to diversify. Secondly, sustainable practices needs to be implemented to ensure our the preservation of the forest and our future.

 

Siti Fuadilla Alchumaira: Co-Founder of Empowomen

Posted on | by angin

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Siti Fuadilla Alchumaira. I am the co-founder of a women’s community initiative in Lampung called Empowomen. It is a forum which aims to develop the potential of young women in Lampung and increase women’s leadership and participation in society. We select women to participate in a four-month program involving activities that focus on capacity building, project management and team building, with a final stage of implementing a social project that targets local women as beneficiaries. Our hope is that our female participants can develop these skills to use for their careers and become leaders who can mobilize the community to solve existing social problems within our society.

What inspired you to build this initiative?

First, I’ll give some context about the gender dynamics in Lampung. Currently, there are only 4 women leaders out of 40 community leaders in Lampung, while only 23% of parliament is represented by women. For these reasons, as well as the high rates of violence against women in Lampung, we decided to invest in women. If we can raise the standard of women leaders within the community, then the awareness and sensitivity to solve issues related to women will inevitably increase.

What sorts of issues do women currently face in Lampung?

In Lampung itself, there is still limited support and access to general information about the options that women have. We are not just talking about women’s access to information or developments in Jakarta or Java, as we are still quite far away from that reality. Here, women’s aspirations are still limited to domestic roles which is a mindset we want to change. We strive to raise awareness and lead by example to inspire women to do anything they can with their skills and abilities. We are not limited by our gender and should be able to build a career in whatever field we choose.

What sorts of challenges have you faced so far?

Until now, we still rely on grants and have not been focused on monetising our project as we are currently focused on raising awareness and capacity building. We are still unsure about the kinds of products or services that we can develop to monetize and thus support the sustainability of Empowomen. These are the strategies we need to work on moving forward.

How do you stay motivated despite facing difficulties?

We are grateful that accessibility is increasing and we are becoming more aware about the importance of funding in supporting the sustainability of our project. Perhaps one thing that keeps us going is the fact that we are certain about the ‘why’. Why are we doing this? Because we believe in the benefits of our project, and feel continuously encouraged and humbled by the mentorship we have received thus far, which has allowed us to increase our own capacity. The main thing is to keep learning, keep trying, and if it fails, just try again.

What can we do to help as a society?

Naturally, most of our team is female, but we also recognize the important role of men in achieving our vision. One of our values ​​is inclusiveness, and so both men and women are invited to support our initiative and the societal issues that affect women more generally.

 

[RECAP] BLOCK71 Healthtech Deep Dive

Posted on | by angin

On March 14, Connector.ID’s Meredith moderated a panel with several healthtech startups making waves in the industry as we know it. In attendance were Nathanael Faibis, CEO of Alodokter, Vinita Choolani, CMO of INEX Innovations Exchange, and Anda Waluyo Sarpadan, COO of Sehati and TeleCTG. Here are some key takeaways from the panel:

    1. What’s in an ideal team? The right combination of passion and skill. To join a healthtech startup, one needs to be motivated and driven enough to endure sleepless nights and the hustle, grind, and uncertainty of startup life. This requires truly believing in the product and the potential impact it may have on society. On the other hand, skills are extremely important – even if you have all the passion in the world, you must still have the right skills (or at least be willing to learn).
    2. It’s not just creating one product; it’s creating an ecosystem. Anda of Sehati and TeleCTG emphasized her team’s approach of creating a holistic solution to the health problem she is trying to address. Rather than just creating one product, she is addressing the issue from beginning to end, creating the infrastructure necessary to implement her TeleCTG innovation which creates a portable, on-the-go CTG device for pregnant women to check maternal health and send data. Meanwhile, Sehati is a mobile app that answers pregnant womens’ most pressing questions, schedules doctors’ appointments, provides an journal interface, and calculates pregnancy condition.
    3. To be number one, you need to do the dirty work. The secret to being #1 on the app store in Indonesia? Nothing extraordinary. Nathanael explains that being number one simply means working hard and consistently to validate your ideas and create something that your user loves.
    4. Local presence is key to market dominance. Vinita recalled INEX’s time in Australia, where they went from millions in market share to zero after local competitors stepped in, undercutting her entire business. Because those local competitors could quickly pivot and respond to demand – saving on time and money -, her business had no chance. Now, she is setting up shop in Indonesia and has a local office here, where she hopes she can fulfill the demand for her groundbreaking innovations in ovarian cancer detection
    5. Partnerships – important, but not essential. Lastly, a hot debate erupted over whether or not partnership and collaboration are essential to a startup’s growth. While Anda and Vinita noted that partnerships were quite vital to their startups’ success, Nathanael gave a different point of view. While partnerships can be important, one does not necessarily need a partnership at every step of the way. There are some things that you can do yourself, and if that is the most efficient way then it’s the way to go.

 

The Deep Dive on Healthtech was one of the most exciting and well-attended events at BLOCK71 to date. We look forward to the next Deep Dive and are grateful to BLOCK71 for inviting us to participate in such a thought-provoking panel.

 

Kartini Igirisa: Founder of UD Kartini Cakalang

Posted on | by angin

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Kartini Igirisa. I am the founder of UD Kartini Cakalang. I started my business in 2008, producing processed fish products such as a variety of sambal (chili sauce).

What was your background previously and how did you come to establishing your own business?

At that time, in 2010, I was going through family problems. I split from my husband and the household, so needed to start earning an income. I have been running my business as a single parent up until now. When I started, we only had one product which was abon cakalang (fish floss). Now there are approximately 7 products, including sambal tuna, sambal teri and various other sambal varieties.

So far, what sorts of challenges do you face in managing your business?

There are competitors who sell their products below the market rate which is worrying for me. We aim to ensure that the quality of our products is not compromised, which means that the price is is raised accordingly. Naturally, when new players enter the market, they automatically look for price competitiveness. All our processing is still done manually.

How do you fundraise?

Until now, I’ve relied on bank loans entirely as the interest rates are very low. However, I only borrow as much as I need.

Can you share any of your experiences as a women entrepreneur?

Firstly, the opportunities are definitely limited living outside of the city. Not having a spouse makes things a bit harder as a single parent, but that’s okay. It does not limit my career. I am still confident, and continue to keep trying because I have to make a living and provide for my children.

I employ 3 women who work on processing, who are all single parents. My vision is to empower women within my community who need an income. Looking for work these day is also difficult, as many employers requires a minimum, level of schooling. So for people who do not have an education, it’s hard to provide daily food for the family. By hiring these people we are helping them achieve financial stability. I am particularly passionate in helping them because I know how hard it is being a single parent.

Why is the issue of women’s empowerment important to you?

I think women should have their own financial freedom, and be able to produce something that can earn themselves an income. I try to promote positive thinking for my female friends who are hoping to open their own business.

In the long term, what do you hope for your business?

I hope that my products can reach the wider domestic Indonesian market, and be in shops all over the archipelago. The goal is to one day have my own factory in Manado.

 

Lientje H.K. Mamahit: Founder of UD Makaarwen

Posted on | by angin

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am Lientje H.K. Mamahit and I am the owner of Eufraino. We produce a variety of plant products that are processed to be used as traditional medicine for health. I am also coincidentally the Chairwoman of the Association of Traditional Medicine in North Sulawesi. Our products come in the form of instant powdered drinks made from ginger, temu lawak, and turmeric, which are considered natural herbal remedies. We combine these ingredients with fruits and vegetables such as mangosteen, soursop, and carrot, among others to enhance the flavors. My latest product is a 3-in-1 variety consisting of mangosteen combined temu lawak and ginger, which I recommend for people who work a lot, people who tend to eat an oily, fatty diet, and for detoxing in general. The reason why I made these into instant powder was because it turns out that after multiple test trials, that these fruits and vegetables produce higher levels of vitamins when dried and grounded.

What motivated you to start your business?

In the 1990s, I was working as a pastor at a hospital in North Sulawesi when I suddenly became sick. The doctors gave me a drug injection, after which I fainted. It was from there that I realized that my body could not take in chemical drugs, and that’s when I discovered herbal medicine.

Then in 2000, I began to build my own business. I started with only 1 kilogram of ginger, temu lawak and turmeric. For every kilogram, I was able to make 30 sachets of herbal drink. After receiving so much positive feedback and orders from friends and family, I had the confidence to grow the business. Now there are 10 instant drink products under Eufraino which have been distributed to most supermarkets in Manado, as well as stores in Tomohon and Tondano including Transmart Carrefour. My current production per year is 30,000 sachets. At the moment, I am starting to develop green tea, which has become somewhat a global trend. Green tea in powdered form is generally considered higher in antioxidants.

What sorts of challenges have you experienced in developing this business?

This business is not without its challenges. In terms of finding capital, I relied on bank loans. However we have been lucky enough to get support from the Ministry of Agriculture to develop our product. Business growth now has reached 10% every year. The Ministry of Cooperatives has also provided us with mentoring and coaching.

Can you share some of the other initiatives you have been involved in?

In 2011 I was also given a community award by the Ministry of Agriculture called the LM3 (Lembaga Mandiri yang Mengakar di Masyarakat) for outstanding achievement in agribusiness. Those who received the LM3 were directly recruited by the Ministry to work as coaches at the Rural Agricultural Training Center. Because a lot of agricultural output is sold unprocessed, its value is remains low. For example, rice farmers generally directly sell their harvest in its unprocessed form for around Rp.10.000 per kilo of rice. But when the rice is processed into flour, companies like Rose Brand sell bags of 100g for a lot more than the unprocessed rice itself. This is the value added from processing that we aim to promote to agribusinesses.

I have also visited various cities in Indonesia and abroad because of invitations to attend seminars and symposiums on herbal medicine. So my knowledge increases after attending each training session, seminar and symposium.

What do you hope for Eufraino going forward?

Our product is ready for export, especially our 3-in-1 drink consisting of mangosteen, temu lawak and red ginger. With the global health trend at the moment, there is definitely a market for it – particularly with its  great health benefits.

 

Rizkia Meutia Putri – Community Leader in Lampung

Posted on | by angin

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Rizkia Meutia Putri. I am the co-founder of a community group called Jalan Inovasi Sosial (JANIS). JANIS is a social community that engages in social empowerment and community building with a particular focus on innovation. We aim to raise awareness about economic growth, education and environmental issues within the surrounding community in Lampung. One of the projects we have worked on is empowering the tourism industry within Kunjir village, which is located in South Lampung. Here, we see a lot of potential to develop tourism; however public awareness remains low. So, we decided to go to the village and help the local community to realize and develop that potential.

What is the story behind your initiative?

In Kunjir, there is an island called Pulau Mengkudu. It is one of the icons of Lampung, but unfortunately is not marketed very well and thus attracts few visitors. At the start, there were only 10 to 15 visitors per week, but after we conducted a few trips which aimed to empower and educate about the economic development of the community, the condition slowly improved. In the end, we were able to reach over 1000 visitors per month. From there, awareness about the environment also started to increase with people throwing garbage in the correct place. Before, not many of the local people worked; now, various business have opened there as well as tourist guard posts which has resulted in an increase of income for the community from 2 to 3 million rupiah per month from the money collected at each post.

This community has been running for 3 years. It is still sustainable as a tourist village and we still follow up until now. We want to innovate again in the village to attract more tourists to come back.

What are your current strategies to grow?

We are continually building on our tourism strategy to add attractions that can draw tourists back to the area. For instance, at the moment we are looking into agricultural tourism and hydroponics as points of attraction. This is the beauty of agriculture, because housewives and mothers can not only open eateries but also help create new attractions with visual appeal.

We also accompany youth. They are very creative. One of the youths crafted a local good that tourists ended up buying as souvenirs. From there, we realized that we need funding. So to fill in what is missing in our requirements and execution, we sought out support. Why walk alone if we can walk together? We are not alone because many communities and local partners support us. Our team really has a sincere intention and vision to give value to our community.

If we want to seek funding, then we must have a mature concept. At the moment, we are in the process of developing our concept again in the case that there are potential investors or donors who want to support the program. It is important that we refine our concept in order to attract more people.

As a woman founder, what barriers do you experience?

As a woman, your support network is really only the close friends around you because woman still get underestimated. Even for women who are aware of their own potential, it can still be hard. But as long as we can manage these feelings, it will challenge us and it will make us stronger.

How do you overcome challenges and stay motivated?

We recognize that our initiative is useful to others and that there are still people that can benefit from our efforts. If there is something or someone that stands in your way or undermines you, don’t focus on it. I chose to focus on the 1,000 people and the village community who benefits from our services. Just keep going.

Hasria Sarianto: Founder of Poklasar

Posted on | by angin

ANGIN Women’s Spotlight series seeks to showcase a diverse array of inspiring women leaders and their stories and experiences in order to shed light on the unique experiences of women in business. We hope that both men and women can gain from these shared experiences, that these stories can inspire change, and that other young girls are motivated to become leaders as well.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Hasria Sarianto. I run a food processing business called Poklasar, which stands for Kelompok Pengolahan Pemasar.  We process fish for consumption and sell to outside the area. I am also a women’s activist; I often look after women who have problems in their families. Through this work, I noticed that many women were treated badly – largely because they are dependent on the husband. Thus, some friends and I initiated Poklasar to empower housewives and give them economic independence. In fact, they are helping their husbands earn extra income. Poklasar not only received an award from the government but is also now a legal chapter recognized by the government.

What are some challenges you have faced in business?

Our business started in 2015, but we have encountered many obstacles including a lack of tools. For example, we don’t have enough equipment available to make our processed fish balls, nuggets, and makasang products.  We still chop the fish manually, which limits our production capacity despite the abundance of fish available.  Furthermore, people usually use tenggiri fish to make meatballs, but we use another type of fish for economic reasons.

If the first issue is about tools procurement, the second issue is obtaining funding to buy proper machineries needed to develop and grow the business. We crafted proposals to a government agency – DINAS – but they have to serve so many others that they certainly cannot contribute to our business group. As such, our business goes as usual and remains small.  

For marketing, we need help: creating better packaging to be more interesting. We also need to understand better about water content so that our products can last longer.  We need to hire professionals and need to learn more. Our processes are done the traditional way with very limited tools.

Is your business mostly women?

We only have one group consisting of 10 people who all play their respective roles. There are some housewives who make meatballs. The other group handles marketing. Most are housewives from the village and do not have the skills to work outside home. Hence, they did not have much to do other than maintaining the household and cooking. Now they no longer dependent on their husbands, since they can earn their own living. That’s the main purpose – we cans achieve gender equality through economic independence.

Are there still negative stereotypes about women in Manado?

Yes, particularly in the rural areas and in the coastal areas. The coastal area is about 2 hours away from Manado. Activists should also care about the coastal areas so that women will also be aware of their rights. Sometimes when people are deprived, they act differently.  But when they are empowered, they will believe that they can do anything.

Is the awareness of this issue better now?

It has gotten better as the the old cultures that limited women are finally relaxed as well. Women have a lot of potential, but they have never been given the opportunity or enough money.  

What was your previous job?

I am a housewife and started as a housewife as well. But I do social work because I actually got involved in many women’s organizations.

Why did you start this business?

I am a female activist. Many women came complaining because their husbands control the money and they felt powerless.  Later, many women became victims of domestic violence because they had no bargaining power with the men. Based on this, I believed that these women should be given space and opportunities to be independent and make their own money so that it would not be so easy to be harmed, beaten or cheated. I want all the women I can reach to feel that they are entitled to independence.

What challenges did you experience in obtaining funding?

Once, we requested support from the government because at the time, the government promised that the tools we needed would be prepared. But then the procurement did not match what we asked for and did not meet our needs. The goods ended up being stored and not used.

Are there still many women who do not dare to ask the bank for a loan?

Now it’s easy to get a loan. In our system, when one is married, it is surely the husband applying for a loan. In our country, it should be the head of the family, except if the wife is a single parent.

What are your thoughts about the future of this group?

There is a lot of potential; these women hope to make new development and change for a better future. I think this group will need to grow as well. But it it is constrained due to budget and funding, as it has been self-financed for a long time. Fundraising is still in dire need because my aspirations for the group are to actually have better results both internally and externally from the group.

Ria Pratiwi: WIZEL Project

Posted on | by angin

ANGIN Women’s Spotlight series seeks to showcase a diverse array of inspiring women leaders and their stories and experiences in order to shed light on the unique experiences of women in business. We hope that both men and women can gain from these shared experiences, that these stories can inspire change, and that other young girls are motivated to become leaders as well.

Please explain a little about your efforts.

My name is Ria Pratiwi and I run WIZEL Project. I recycle used jeans and use them as materials to make bags or pencil cases. Suppose I can market these products online and offline; I plan to save 10% of the profits.  The funds saved will be used for sewing training for unskilled mothers that only work at home — the housewives. I hope that in the future, through the training, they will be able to earn extra income to support their households and learn new skills.  They will not only be able to sew bags, but also clothes. However at present, I have difficulties in marketing the product despite having successfully created a good prototype.

What makes you build this business?

First of all, I could not find good and affordable products made of denim, particularly bags. I like products made of denim; it’s a good, strong and long lasting material. But it was hard to find a denim bag that isn’t too expensive.

Secondly, environmental issues. Nowadays, most people wear jeans and store them away  because they do not know where to throw them away. Many choose to cut their jeans or tear them apart. In my opinion, the usage is not optimized and it is probably better if we recycle them, convert them into something useful, and therefore give to people in need. Furthermore, I saw a problem within my own circle: my aunt is a housewife who does not work, but she has the ability to produce if only she was empowered. I wondered, “Why can’t I empower her and possibly other mothers later so they can be productive, gain skills, and earn more?”

What’s your fundraising strategy? How are you running?

At present, I am running on zero external funding. I collect jeans as donations from friends who do not want to wear these jeans any longer.  Then, I recycle them into bags. Currently the problem is mostly in financing the cost of the sewing machines. In the future I want to train more mothers and housewives, so we will need more tools that can support this program.

I will continue to look for access to funds because sewing machines are needed.  At some point, not all of the materials would be from donations. We may buy denim in rolls so that we can produce bags from both new and recycled materials. I intend for the recycling program to continue to exist.

What are some challenges you encounter in your business?

The challenge is getting these housewives to understand the upside of being a participant in this project. They need to be aware that they could help their families by having additional income. If they can produce the bags well, we can help them market them and sell them.

As a female entrepreneur, do you see any challenges in developing your business?

I am female and many investors are usually men. First of all, I am worried that they will not pay attention to me because I am a female. They probably question my ability since I am female and they might think that women can’t do something like this. I worry about these things when I meet prospective investors.

So this stereotype still exists?

Currently in Lampung communities, this stereotype still exists. In better educated communities, such beliefs have probably waned as they understand that women also have the potential and are capable.

How will WIZEL Project create impact?

First, I want to promote Sustainable Development Goal 12 of sustainable consumption and production by ensuring continuous consumption and production patterns. We as a society consume and buy clothes like jeans, but do not know how to recycle or reproduce.

Secondly, I can also create economic growth for these housewives I work with. 10% of the profit saved from every purchase will fund the continuous training.  I also plan to donate some of the bags to street children, orphanages or children who need school bags and pencil boxes for school. Hopefully by providing these basic needs, we can help them stay motivated to study and attend school.