Nov 21, 2020 – Indonesia is the largest digital economy country in Southeast Asia in 2019 with a value of US $ 40 billion and aims to reach US $ 133 billion by 2025. Businesses that conduct transactions using various digital platforms are the biggest contributors to this digital economy sector. However, the 2019 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute research shows that Indonesia still has lower levels of digital entrepreneurship and technology adoption capabilities compared to neighboring countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore. Challenges exist in improving these capabilities and Prestasi Junior is working with a major corporation in an effort to overcome these.

This year, Prestasi Junior Indonesia began a partnership with WhatsApp to implement a digital business training program for students and young entrepreneurs in Indonesia. This undertaking was carried out to support the digital transformation of young entrepreneurs by improving their digital skills, particularly in the use of the WhatsApp Business platform. Since July 2020, a total of 1,234 participants from 12 cities in Indonesia (Batam, Bogor, Tangerang, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bojonegoro, Blitar, Pacitan, Madura, Denpasar, and Jayapura) have benefited from participation in this online training.

Over a period of one week, participants access four modules available at http://training.prestasijunior.org/. As a result of engagement in three modules focusing on using the WhatsApp Business platform, participants achieve an understanding as to how WhatsApp Business is able to assist businesses to connect and engage their customers better through strategies such as messaging features, sending images, videos, documents, and sharing product information. These modules contain practical information as to how to set up and manage a WhatsApp Business profile. In addition, beneficiaries also learn about best practices for personal use of WhatsApp, including security factors and the identification and prevention of the spread of fake news in order to promote the responsible and safe use of online platforms. The beneficiaries attended virtual discussions and were able to interact directly with the trainers from WhatsApp and PJI. In so doing, they were able to improve their knowledge and become more confident in the use of this tool.

Prestasi Junior Indonesia applauds the support provided by WhatsApp in Indonesia to develop businesses operated by young Indonesians through digitalization. Together, we recognize that digital skills are essential for today’s young entrepreneurs. Moreover, the pandemic situation encourages businesses to adopt digital tools like WhatsApp so that they can survive and thrive in the new normal era. We believe this training has nurtured many digital literate young entrepreneurs across the nation.