Aug 21, 2018 – Citi Indonesia (Citibank), through its community activity platform known as Citi Peka (Caring and Creating), together with Prestasi Junior Indonesia (PJI) continues its commitment in supporting young generations to become competent business people with spirit of generosity in a discussion titled ‘Sociopreneur Talks: Social Enterprise Empowers People’ held at @America Jakarta on Tuesday (8/21). Endra Marsudi, Co-Founder Frame a Trip, and Siti Astrid Kusumawardhani, Vice President of Public Affairs GO-JEK Indonesia, attended the talkshow as inspirational speakers. Attended by one hundred plus young people from multiple high schools this activity hopes to share insights and inspiration about the basic concepts and future potential of entrepreneurship.
This activity is also part of the “Youth Sociopreneurship Initiative” education program initiated by PJI and supported by Citibank, which has entered its fourth implementation year. Since 2014, the program, funded by the Citi Foundation, has successfully engaged 37,797 students from 112 high schools/vocational schools in 6 (six) Indonesian cities: Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang, Denpasar, and Medan.
Director, Country Head of Corporate Affairs Citi Indonesia Elvera N. Makki expressed Citibank’s great attention to wider economic opportunities for the younger generation or youth economic opportunities, not only for themselves, but also for the local communities. “The indicator of sociopreneur success is not only measured by the amount of profit that can be produced, but further, by how much social impact is created from the business built. Through this youth entrepreneurship program, we strive to shape young social entrepreneurs with reliable business characters who are proficient in financial management, and have orientation in helping to solve social problems that occur in their environment,” said Vera.
Management Advisor Prestasi Junior Indonesia Robert Gardiner explained, “The young generation, which are dominating the Indonesian population, need to be given the opportunity to hone their potential qualities, especially entrepreneurship, to boost their productivity. Together with Citibank, we will continue to provide social entrepreneurship guidance to high school and vocational school students in a number of cities in Indonesia. This ongoing effort is carried out to encourage the young generation to become sociopreneurs who are keen to identify local potential, cultivate success individually, and at the same time provide positive economic impacts on the communities around them.”
Through the “Youth Sociopreneurship Initiative”, students are trained to establish and operate a company (SC-Student Company) at school. This includes creating product ideas, planning business strategies, selling products, and company liquidation. During the program period, students also receive intensive business assistance from PJI mentors and Citibank employees who are members of Citi Volunteers. In addition, this program also encourages students to create businesses that not only meet the needs, but are also able to help solve problems that occur in society today.
In the 2017-2018 competition, Sagasco, an SC from SMA 3 Semarang, successfully defeated 34 national and vocational high schools at the national level and was selected to represent Indonesia to compete in the Asia Pacific level to be held in the Philippines in March 2019. In this competition, they will compete with SC from 13 other Asia Pacific countries.
Focusing on sociopreneurship as well as ecopreneurship, Sagasco SC started a business idea driven by concern for the negative environmental impact of water hyacinth in the Rawa Pening area, which has begun to endanger environmental sustainability and disrupt the fishing and regional tourism industry. Collaborating with local communities and craftsmen, Sagasco SC has successfully produced Echoes—water hyacinth-based footwear products embedded with typical Semarang batik motifs. This is considered a useful product that is environmentally friendly and retains cultural values. It also has great sales potential.
“The opportunity to represent Indonesia in the international business competition is a privilege and a responsibility that we share together. Indeed, this is an achievement won with thanks to the guidance and support provided by Citibank Indonesia and Prestasi Junior Indonesia. Sagasco SC hopes that this business that we have initiated will continue to grow and become beneficial to the community, as well as inspire young entrepreneur friends to bravely start a business while helping to solve social problems,” said M. Zinedine Alam Ganjar, a student of SMAN 3 Semarang who became President Director of Sagasco SC.
“Surely we hope that the growth of social entrepreneurship in the country is not only a transient trend, but can continue to grow and create a business ecosystem that is able to have real and sustainable social impacts. We believe that the presence of young sociopreneurs will be able to boost national economic growth and at the same time be a solution to the social and economic problems of the nation,” Vera concluded.
