Tag: women

Shinta Kamdani on Bloomberg’s High Flyers

Posted on | by angin

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Shinta Kamdani, CEO of the largest distributor of consumer goods Sintesa Group, spoke about her entrepreneurial journey, her visions, and her passion in women empowerment with Haslinda Amin on Bloomberg Television’s “High Flyers”.

On the last episode of High Flyers (19/12), Shinta Kamdani shared the challenges she faced as the first young woman in her family to navigate the direction of three-generation family business which has been running for decades (established in1919), previously known as PT Tigaraksa.

In the interview, Shinta also talked about the barriers she encounters each and everyday as a triple minority (a woman, an ethnic Chinese, and a non-Muslim) in her own country. The good thing is Shinta always takes them positively; in fact, it is her fuel to break every glass ceiling.
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Apart from her work for Sintesa Group, Shinta also shared about her passion in women empowerment. Shinta wants to see more women on top, hence she created a supporting ecosystem to make it happen; from setting up women-to-women fund (ANGIN Women Fund) for female entrepreneurs in Indonesia, an incubation program, to an initiative to promote gender equality in workplace (IBCWE).

Find Shinta’s full interview video here.

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Sara Dhewanto, Founder of duithape

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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 me anything you want about your venture:
Basically, it is virtual banking for the unbanked. In Indonesia, 80% of Indonesians don’t have bank accounts which makes it extremely difficult for funds to flow freely. I found that to be a big issue in my previous jobs. It is completely necessary for Indonesians to be able to make remittances easily, to have cashless payments, to have access to basic financial services. So that’s why we’re doing it.
In your view, are there ways in which women could maybe benefit more from this service? How are women specifically affected by a lack of access to financial capital?
Basically, this app we have – the app is just the technology, but it’s based on communities. There’s the distribution side, where we have to work with a lot of agents. Anybody who has our app basically has a minutes (pulsa) store in their hand – without needing to own a physical store. This actually  fits really well with women who stay at home. They would be able to not only provide a service but also obtain sources of additional income. This would enable, for example, women who are looking for a part-time job to have additional income without having to leave home. So actually it is very much fitting for women.
Can you speak of any challenges that you yourself faced as a woman entrepreneur?
Actually, I never looked at it that way. Until one of my investors said, “You’re a woman entrepreneur. Actually, there are a lot of investors specifically targeting women entrepreneurs. You should emphasize that”. So actually I didn’t even realize that there was anything different. For me, I didn’t even realize and I found out it is actually helpful.
I think one of the things that are more difficult in terms of being a woman is that sometimes when you’re being firm, people take that differently coming from a female versus a male. A male comes off as strong whereas if you’re a woman, you’re bitchy. I’ve been very fortunate actually to have my team. It’s a very good team, and I hope they don’t look at me that way. But I do get a sense that if a woman is firm, it is perceived more negatively rather than positive. And it’s very different for males, it is perceived more positively rather than negative.
In the past, you’ve managed to go quite far in ExxonMobil and the Millennium Challenge Account-Indonesia (MCA-I). Did you face any challenges in the corporate world? How did you deal with more patriarchal workplace environments?
I do think finance is more traditionally a women’s role in Indonesia. But you’re right, for CFO level there are a lot of males. I don’t know, I guess I didn’t really acknowledge it. Even in MCA-I, I had a 62 year old American & 61 year old Canadian reporting to me. And it wasn’t an issue. Maybe if it were a 62 year old Indonesian male, it would be more of an issue.
I think that in Indonesia it’s been — I hope it’s not just my case, but I think it’s been pretty good.  I don’t really feel that much of a difference. Or maybe it’s because I haven’t realized it. A lot of the women I know chose to stop working because they wanted to do something else. With regards to pay equality, there is some truth to it. But in general, even though Indonesia is very patriarchal in terms of culture, I think here it’s pretty good [for women]. You get a lot of the same chances. For example at MCA-I, everyone who interviewed for CFO was interviewed at the same time, so I knew exactly who I was up against. And it was three males way older than me. One was a CEO at a bank, two were CFOs of big companies, and then there was, me. I wasn’t really expecting much, but I actually got the position. So hopefully it’s not just my line of thinking but that there are actually a lot of opportunities for women. For example in MCA-I, the previous CEO was male but he was replaced by a female.
Do you have any advice to give to young women who are aspiring to be entrepreneurs?
Look for the right husband. Seriously. Because for women, I never believed that you have to make a choice. That you have to either choose family or you choose your career. No, you can actually have both. But there’s one huge caveat: you’ve got to have the right spouse. And that’s very important because only the right spouse who has the right mindset will be able to support you along the way. My biggest cheerleader is my husband, so I’m very fortunate. If you don’t want to get married, though, don’t even worry. But if you do want to get married, that’s the key.
Number two, it is a very different kind of skillset that is necessary for working as an entrepreneur versus as an employee; I always did very well as an employee. But the complexities of being an entrepreneur are a lot harder. It’s not just about doing work. As an employee, you do your work and you do it well. And that’s enough. But as an entrepreneur, it’s a lot more complex. You’re suddenly in charge of feeding the families of your employees. If you don’t do well, they don’t eat. It includes them and their five kids (Yes, I actually have an employee that has five kids, and he’s the breadwinner, so I have them in the back of my mind).
You’re always looking at the big picture and looking at it to make sure you can survive. This is my passion and I really believe in what I’m doing, but it is super hard compared to just being an employee. So if you’re going to be an entrepreneur, make sure you have your finances set. Get some savings. Make sure you have something to live by, so you can survive. Just expect pain, because it’ll happen. But learn to be more lighthearted. Take it lightly. And remember why you’re doing it in the first place. If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, make sure it’s something you really believe in. Otherwise, it’s not worth it.
Do you have any tips with dealing with workplace discrimination, toxic masculinity, etc.?
Early in my career, yes. Later on, not so much. But early on, I was always perceived as a little girl, and some treated me more dismissively. Or, on the other hand I feel like there are some that think they can be handsy. You have to stand your ground as a woman.
But I think because I didn’t even think of it much, it really helps. I didn’t realize that because I am a woman, things should be different. I just acted professionally; how you perceive yourself and how you act tend to get the same reaction from other people. So I think it paid off that I didn’t realize I was supposed to be a woman with differences. I never really felt it. And at the end of the day, I think that’s one of the reasons why people never treated me that way. They just looked at me as a colleague. The one who was handsy was flirty the first two months; but after he got to know me, he never even tried. He was still really handsy with the other girls, but never with me. And I think that’s really the thing. It’s really important how you conduct and perceive yourself. You keep it professional and you make sure that is the way things are. And if that’s the way you conduct and see yourself, people will respond accordingly.

Amina Qonita, Founder of SNCTRY Health Bar

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 me anything you want to tell me about SNCTRY.
I started SNCTRY two and a half years ago. Basically the philosophy behind SNCTRY is to create  a place where you can be happy, as we believe that by feeding your body with food that is good for you, happiness will come from the inside and out. Here, not only can you find food that healthy and nutritious, we try to be a business that is holistically good for the wellbeing;  we have a bright colorful space, very friendly staff  and we are also environmentally conscious. We only use local ingredients, the store itself uses a lot of recycled furniture and we are moving towards being 100% plastic free. So it is a holistically ‘good’ place where you can feed your body well and be happy in knowing that you are supporting a responsible business.
In the food and beverage scene in Jakarta, do you see this holistic philosophy or health trend as something that’s growing bigger?
When we started we were one of the first healthy food places. I remember when I first opened people were like, “You know, I don’t think Indonesians will want this food,” ‘cause you know the diet here is very very different and people are not aware of nutrition.  
Anyway since then, the trend has definitely grown, from being the first place in Jakarta to serve a smoothie bowl, now you can find it in a lot of places in town. So the health food trend is definitely something that is on the rise, Jakartans are more aware of health food and nutrition now compared to how they were 2 years ago.
Which is amazing, to know that something we brought here has changed people’s mentality towards health food. Take our smoothie bowls, it’s not like its green or it’s a salad, it’s friendly and it looks nice, so people are more keen to try it.
In terms of the holistic philosophy, that’s something that is growing at a slower rate, but it’s nice to see that more and more cafes are moving to being more responsible.  
Do you have any comments or tips to stay afloat in the very competitive F&B in Jakarta?
You have to stay true to your business, with Snctry we are quite strict on our food, we only use fresh, pesticide-free, local produce, we don’t use  palm oil, we don’t use refined sugar so we stay true to this and we do not compromise on this quality. So it’s very important to never compromise the quality of what you sell.
Another tip is to always create new things, be experimental and creative and create new menus, like seasonal menus, so your regular customers don’t get bored.
How is the gender landscape in F&B? Predominantly female? Male? 50/50
From what I can see, usually people go into F&B business in groups, and its predominantly males. I would say 70- 30.
Do you find challenges being a female entrepreneur in this industry? If so how do you overcome those challenges?
Actually for me personally, I’ve never seen gender as a challenge. Previous to starting snctry I was working in Australia in a very male-dominated industry.
The challenges that comes with being an entrepreneur comes to any entrepreneur, both male and female.
For me, I personally don’t focus too much on the challenges, but I focus on the positive things I want to achieve.  I have a  ‘just-do-it’ mentality, because the more you think about it, the more you get scared and the more it becomes a hindrance.
Do you have any tips for women breaking into this industry?
To do something you’re passionate about – is definitely a key, it will keep you going when the challenges come. But again, in order to break into any industry, you shouldn’t see gender as something that should stop you, If you think it is then you are agreeing to being less equal to men, I mean really, there’s nothing that we females can’t do now, especially in this day and age. There will definitely be difficulties, but I’m sure if you have enough courage and you put your mind into it, you can do it. Anyone can.
Any tips on the F&B industry in general?
Again, do something you’re passionate about, something you love. If it’s something on trend, that always helps to kickstart the marketing but you need to have a good product for people to keep coming back.  Realize what your market is, what their behavior is like, for example the people in Jakarta loves to take pictures of something new and on trend, so you should use this to your advantage, something photogenic is always good here.
Favorite item? What should I try right now ?
I recommend the coconut breeze smoothie bowl with extra granola for me its super delicious and refreshing. You don’t even realize that it’s healthy because you get the sweetness from all the tropical fruit, it’s cold and fresh like a healthy ice cream and you get a lot of energy from the granola. It’s really good for you, and you feel super nourished afterwards. So yeah, that’s what you should try right now!

[RECAP and READ] Knowing the Future: How Artificial Intelligence Will Shape Tomorrow

Posted on | by angin

Several inspiring women panelists gathered together at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence on humanity’s collective future. The all-star panel included Elizabeth Gore – Chairman of Alice, Nivruti Rai – Country General of Intel, Rama Kalyani Akkiraju – Distinguished engineer at IBM, and Shubha Nabar – Senior Director, Data Science at Salesforce. Here are the key takeaways:

    1. Artificial intelligence will make huge disruptions in the healthcare, manufacturing, and customer service sectors. From simplifying logistics to using image detection classification AI to using chatbots to streamline processes, huge changes are coming and jobs will shift as automation becomes inevitable.
    2. AI needs to become more accessible to the public. Part of understanding how to build an AI system is trusting and understanding what happens. This will require greater participation from the public. Companies will need to explain what AI is to users, in a way people understand, and what the implications are. The public also needs to put their trust in AI. Models should be somewhat transparent, and companies should be exposing the right metrics – the things you predict and how they correlate with what you predict a month later, a year later, etc. – in order to foster greater public trust around the model.   
    3. Humanity is still an integral part of AI. Just because we’re moving towards a more automated future doesn’t mean that humanity will grow less important. If you think about it, the humanity behind AI is what makes our AI lovable, trusted, and usable. And there’s a good reason why we put human elements behind AI. Just think about prominent and popular AIs such as Watson, Siri, Alice, Einstein, etc. At the end of the day, the entrepreneurs and leaders that will be successful are the ones who don’t JUST know the technical capabilities of AI but also understand culture, humanity, and how to create a user-centered AI.
    4. The best founders and the data are the ones that use AI as a tool, not those who say “we are an AI company.” The most successful are the ones who take a holistic approach and use AI as a tool for end users. After all, users will always be king. When designing and building AI tools, we should be thinking about and designing for the person using AI, not the AI itselff.
    5. What should governments do to prepare the next generation to take advantage of AI? There is a lot of debate about AI leaving blue collar workers jobless and destroying the economy as we know it. The truth is that there will definitely be changes in the job landscape, but it will not necessarily leave us all jobless. Smart policy is necessary to train workers, create an economic security net, and begin the shift to a more digitized economy. Thinkers like Bill Gates have proposed a robot tax, where every job that a company gives to a robot his taxed a certain amount. That tax can then be leveraged to re-skill a person to create a different job for him/her in the new digital economy. In addition, we should be thinking of our politicians – how many are technology-literate? How many have a technological background? Everyone needs to take responsibility of who you’re putting into office or how public officials are getting educated in technology.
    6. AI reduces discrimination and lowers barriers to entry. Think about how ATMs changed society: you don’t get discriminated against by an ATM. It’s not about banks, tellers, or even VCs on the other side of the counter saying, “you don’t look the way I’m used to, and I have an unconscious bias against you.” You can withdraw money without discrimination. With AI, you’re automating more and more processes while striving to eliminate human bias and error. This is what we’re increasingly seeing with fintech companies such as Connector.ID and cryptocurrencies like Blockchain — the barrier to funding is lowered, transactions become more transparent, and corruption can be reduced.

The panel left the audience feeling hopeful about the future of AI, while also giving entrepreneurs a sense of how to integrate AI into their own companies. The discussion on AI is growing and has only just begun; it is up to leaders – including women entrepreneurs – to continue to build empathetic and user-centric AI tools to help create a better future.
To learn more about Blockchain Technology, we advise you to jump on this freshly published article: Check it out: https://www.investinblockchain.com/what-is-blockchain-technology
 

[RECAP] An Emphasis on Women, Tech, and the Future of Entrepreneurship: Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017

Posted on | by angin

1’500 delegates from 150 countries gathered in Hyderabad for this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). The air buzzed with excitement as entrepreneurs, investors, and government officials mingled and connected with one another.
With the theme, “Women First, Prosperity For All,” GES 2017 brought in a variety of inspiring women figures and honed in on women-focused panels. Master classes such as “Success! Keeping and Nurturing Women in STEM” as well as an all-female panel discussing the future of artificial intelligence kept audience members engaged, while speeches from the likes of Ivanka Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi honed in on how investing in women could lead to a positive ripple effect and how India plans to continue as a prime location for innovation.
Meanwhile, the GIST Catalyst Pitch Competition was held throughout the summit, with 24 semifinalists competing for over $400,000 worth of prizes. Indonesian-based startup Humanitree – an app-based platform that improves access to education by connecting those who want to donate to a child’s education with child sponsorship NGOs and providing a secure payment method, updates, and impact dashboard – was among the semifinalists in the digital economy category. An Indian-based startup, Frontier Markets, took the grand prize: Frontier Markets is a last mile distribution solution for energy products with a focus on solar technology that empowers women by giving women in India the tools they need to teach their communities about the benefits of solar power and sell solar products.