A food courier service, a wedding invitation website, a skills marketplace application and a wifi advertising platform: four incredibly different businesses, but now with something in common.

 Is the future of Indonesia in the hands of the millennial? PT Hutchinson 3 Indonesia thinks so.

“We know the millennial can determine the direction of the future,” says Tri Indonesia DGM Corporate Communications Arum Prasodjo.

It’s this belief that led 3 Indonesia to launch the Festival #Ambisiku (Ambition Festival) last year.

The festival is empowering and inspiring the youth of Indonesia, and, for four lucky start-ups, it’s providing professional advice, funding and support for two years.

Winners of the Kejar: #Ambisku competition, these four businesses are Soko.id from Solo, Sellbuytime from Jakarta, Mengundang.co from Bandung and WI4GO from Yogyakarta.

Early last month, they entered in the two-year boot camp stage of the program, during which receive mentoring and support from PT Hutchinson ‘guardians.’

“We were actually petrified [when we found out we’d won],” says Soekma Sulistyo, CEO of Soko.id.

Initially, he says, Soko.id had limited understanding of market penetration and customer development, but the initial stages of boot camp have helped this.  “The guardians are very professional in their field, and we’ve received a lot of experience and knowledge, which is on hand to us until we execute it, ” says Soekma.  It’s been a similar learning experience for Yogyakarta startup WI4GO.  “We’ve been helped in understanding and focussing in terms of product and marketing – things that previously we did not think could be a great strength for our business,” says founder Silvester Herjuna. “We’ve [also been] helped in focussing our product in terms of marketing.”

For founder of Sellbuy time Okky Vanda and his team, boot camp has provided the opportunity to develop a more focused business strategy.

“[The guardians] have provided advice and appropriate recommendations for the development of our future,” says Okky.

“We didn’t realise the demand would be so high, so we needed to strategize, that’s our focus now.”

The companies will be supported through the duration of the program while they establish themselves in the business industry.

Head of Brand Communication at 3 Indonesia Fahroni Arifin, says the aim of the boot camp is to sharpen each business concept through support, promotion and education.

Funding will be offered too, but Fahroni says it’s not the only thing these businesses need.

“Some just need the market and networks that 3 Indonesia can provide, or they need the guardian’s help with understanding how to sell their product,” he says.

“We ensure whatever their needs are, they filled with our internal resources – we have people with specific expertise in marketing, business and so on, and we match them with each company.”

For 3 Indonesia, Kejar #Ambisiku, and the whole #Ambisiku festival, is a way of giving back to the Indonesian public.

“This is education for the country, a contribution to the community,” Arum Prasjojo says.

“It’s a chance for us to do something for Indonesia and for the young people. They are 80% of our customer base so we want to do something beneficial for them. It’s all about encouraging the young generation to pursue their ambitions and make their dreams come true.”

And that’s exactly what Kejar: #Ambisku has done for the four lucky winners.

Spurred on by the program’s support and encouragement, the businesses have high hopes for the next two years and for the future.

“We will be able to make a positive contribution to other countries that have a similar profile with Indonesia, and expand around the world,” Okky (Sellbuytime) says.

His fellow start-ups share these ambitions.

“We hope that… we will start expansion to cities in Java Island and go on to be international,” says Soleh (Soku.id).

“It’s very exciting.”

THE FINAL FOUR

Soku.id from Solo:

Soku.id (previously Solo Kurir) is an online catering and courier website that sells food homemade by housewives and mothers in Solo.

“We are composed from a collection of children working and migrating away from home,” says founder Soekma Sulistyo.

“We are always longing for Mum’s cooking, so we thought: where could get food like Mum’s in the city?”

Inspired by this, Soku.id was formed.

Similar to Go-Food, but offering only homemade dishes, the business encourages mothers and housewives with spare time to sell their cooking to be delivered by Soku.id couriers.

Sellbuytime from Jakarta:

“The first Skill Marketplace Application in Indonesia,” Sellbuytime allows users to find people with specific skills to complete a task.

“Sellbuytime is an application to optimize time and expertise possessed by individuals,” says co-founder Okky Vanda.

Users can verify their qualifications and receive ratings based on their work through the site. The site also allows users to advertise and sell their skills and expertise.

“Everyone has spare time,” says co-founder Muhammed Soleh, “Sellbuytime lets them utilise it.”

Menudang.co from Bandung:

Menudang.co is a website providing online wedding invitations. Customers can join as a vendor or can use the site to create their own digital invitations. Available on desktop and mobile, the business focuses on reducing the cost associated with weddings.

“By creating a digital invitation, you can save money and can allocate them for other purposes for the wedding,” the website says.

WI4GO from Yogyakarta:

WI4GO® is a platform that helps promote cafés, restaurants and other areas through social media, while providing visitors with free wifi.

Visitors can connect to wifi at attractions offering WI4GO by using their social media account to log in. WI4GO then promotes the café or business by posting the location and social media details of the business.

“For example, if we use our Twitter account to log in, then our Twitter account will automatically post that we’re visiting the café and include the location of the cafe, and mention the cafe’s Twitter account,” WI4GO owner Silvester Adi explains.

The business was created in response to anxieties felt by SME business owners.

“We did a survey of 20 owners of SMEs in Solo and Yogyakarta, invit[ing] them to talk about concerns regarding their businesses,” Silvester says.

“They all talked about the need for promotion in social media and the need for wifi at the business location, so from here we wanted to help in solving this problem.”

Published in Globe Asia Magazine March Issue 2017