Indo Tekno Podcast

Charity as the Nucleus of Financial Innovation: Vikra Ijas of Kitabisa

According to a report by Charities Aid Foundation [https://www.ifaw.org/uk/take-action/donate-via-caf?nbt=nb%3Aadwords%3Ax%3A21088274314%3A%3A&nb_adtype=&nb_kwd=&nb_ti=&nb_mi=&nb_pc=&nb_pi=&nb_ppi=&nb_placement=&nb_li_ms=&nb_lp_ms=&nb_fii=&nb_ap=&nb_mt=&cid=701KV000001mhkM&ms=UONDF240311105&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&hsa_acc=9570516196&hsa_cam=21088274314&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwouexBhAuEiwAtW_Zx_Rz8-Z9sBT4S8OQWtELw620VY7WQxqCRsS30KcNDPMFydxa6JBzlhoCVM8QAvD_BwE], Indonesia is considered the world’s most generous nations. Kitabisa [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kita-bisa/] Co-founder and CEO Vikra Ijas [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikraijas/] attributes Indonesia's global leadership in giving over the past six years to "religious and cultural influences" that have shaped "a very collectivist society." Kitabisa is Indonesia's largest online crowdfunding platform for social and personal medical causes. The company last year acquired a life insurance company, largely as an extension to its Saling Jaga offering (trans. "protecting each other), which is a mutual aid program where members can protect each from critical illness. Vikraan, an Endeavor Entrepreneur [https://www.linkedin.com/company/endeavorglobal/],  explains the diversification as a move beyond crowd-funding, which is "limited to a more reactive or responsive type of aid," to becoming "more strategic and prepared for future risks, which is facilitated license-wise through insurance." Kitabisa currently facilitates roughly one donation every second, and is moreover now emerging into one of the country's fastest-growing digital life insurance platforms. Vikra also reflects on the persistent guidance and support that Kitabisa's board members have offered the company, particularly e-commerce platform Bukalapak co-founders Achmad Zaky [https://www.linkedin.com/in/achmadzaky/] and Fajrin Rasyid [https://www.linkedin.com/in/fajrinrasyid/].

Combatting Complexities to Home Ownership, End-to-End: Dayu Dara Permata of Pinhome

Dayu Dara Permata [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dayu-dara-permata-38072a2b/], a 2022 Endeavor Entrepreneur [https://www.linkedin.com/company/endeavorglobal/], joins the Indo Tekno podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/43241664] to discuss the "three barriers to home ownership" that her start-up Pinhome [https://www.linkedin.com/company/pinhomeid/] is focused on eliminating. "There's just huge information asymmetry in the market," she observes. Dara moreover estimates that 70-80% of homebuyers require financing to transact, and most have few means to secure it properly.  The third challenge relates to the sheer complexity and cost of any transaction, particularly in its final stages. The company has sought to digitize as much of this historically fraught process as possible through a marketplace architecture. Ensuring "seamless onboarding and making the journey of uploading, publishing listings, etc. frictionless" has been key. A five-year veteran of Gojek [https://www.linkedin.com/company/gojek/] having led its Lifestyle & Commerce Product Group, Dara discusses how that role helped inspire Pinhome's novel "Home Services" offering which, among other things has driven down the platform's CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) while maximizing LTV (Customer Lifetime Value).

Deep in the Seaweed: Dodon Yamin of BANYU

Indonesia represents some 30% of global seaweed production, a market with the opportunity to grow to $26.15 B by 2028. Dodon Yamin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dodon-yamin/], Cofounder and CEO of BANYU [https://banyu.farm/], joins the Indo Tekno podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/43241664/] to discuss the company's end-to-end farm technology platform for Indonesia's seaweed farmers. BANYU's value proposition sits upon three pillars: 1) enhanced seedling availability for Indonesia's farmers, 2) the application of blockchain-based smart contracts in order to improve commercially an otherwise inefficient and "leaky" industry supply chain, and 3) the use of IOT-based (Internet of Things) equipment and software to generate data that can be aggregated, stored and analysed for better farming results. Impressed by the success of fellow ITB alumnus Gibran Huzaifah [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gibran-huzaifah-6358a04a/] at eFishery [https://www.linkedin.com/company/efisheryid/] (podcasts Season 1 Episode 14 [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1079552/5255437] and Season 5 Episode 5 [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1079552/episodes/13977715]), Dodon acknowledges the need for broader investor understanding of Indonesia's rising "aquatech" movement. BANYU has set an ambitious goal of 10x growth both this year and next, seeking to position itself as a key player in unlocking the country's seaweed opportunity.

A Musician Orchestrating Synergies Across Small Merchants: TJ Tham of tjufoo

Our latest Indo Tekno podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/43241664/] guest, TJ Tham [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tj-tham-88987448/], comes from the relatively unorthodox background of a formally trained musician. TJ feels he is able to apply the more "right-brained" traditions of a musical upbringing across a number of facets in his role as co-founder of tjufoo [https://www.linkedin.com/company/tjufoo/], one of Indonesia's most successful "brand aggregators". Success in both roles depends upon a number of similar skills in TJ's mind. For instance, "music involves a lot of patterns." Similarly, identifying successful small Indonesian merchants requires a "keen eye for pattern recognition." A brand aggregator team like tjufoo commonly invests in or acquires small merchants, and then applies specific expertise to multiply the merchant's growth. tjufoo's favorite sectors are currently consumer electronics, home & living and FMCG (consumables). Although some of tjufoo's global brand aggregator peers have gone bankrupt of recent, the company's leadership team feels it has struck a more sustainable business model, not by solving a succession of discrete problems, but by introducing the "processes (and) the frameworks to help small merchants grow sustainably in the long term."

A Brand Builder Now Enabling an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: James Prananto of Kopi Kenangan

James Prananto [https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-prananto-a7b5944b/] joins the Indo Tekno podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/43241664/] to discuss the origins of his collaboration with fellow Kopi Kenangan [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kopi-kenangan/] cofounder Edward Tirtanata [https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-tirtanata-29518198/]. "We wanted to prove that our model works...but the malls and landlords only wanted to deal with the big brands" in the early days. The pair's eventual success in raising high quality VC money helped solve this and other problems, raising Kopi Kenangan's profile and legitimacy. James and associates Fandy Cendrajaya [https://www.linkedin.com/in/fandy-cendrajaya-903b92152/] and Christian Sutardi [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisnugie/] more recently founded Kopital Ventures [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kenangan-kapital/about/] to leverage their expertise and networks of contacts for the latest generation of Indonesian entrepreneurs. "It also allows me to give back to the community by growing the Indonesian startup ecosystem."  The most defining value-add that Kopital offers its investee founders is "the amount of time that we spend with the founders." While James has found the latest crop of Indonesian entrepreneurs much more daring than their predecessors, he urges the country's younger founders to "dream bigger".