JAKARTA, Indonesia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DANA and Ant Group today announced the launch of SisBerdaya, a local initiative dedicated to empower Indonesian women entrepreneurs, primarily those from ultra-micro and micro businesses. The initiative helps these individuals to develop their business management and digital skills, keeping them competitive in the digital economy while innovating and advancing their businesses.
The inaugural SisBerdaya is a 3-month mentorship and competition programme open to female entrepreneurs in Indonesia. Focusing on empowering women from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the programme has two primary categories for entry – 1) the Ultra-micro category, which refers businesses with a staff size of 1-5 pax and record a monthly revenue of IDR 1million – IDR 10million; and 2) the Micro category, which refers businesses with a staff size of 6-20 pax and record a monthly revenue of IDR 11million – 30million.
Application opens today via the DANA app and closes on 17 April 2023.
Upon application close and during the first phase of judging, 180 outstanding applications from both categories will be selected by a panel of judges. Each of these selected applicants will receive a token cash prize, and are eligible to enter the next phase of the programme to receive a 1-month mentorship and skills training from a bench of experts from DANA, Ant Group and other industry and government partners.
The holistic training covered during the mentorship and skills training phase range from Business Management, Digital Payment and Marketing, Selling Global Strategy, etc, designed to provide participants a full experience vital to running day-to-day business and operations management, to guiding them on digital innovation. These sessions will be conducted in a hybrid mode with physical workshops in the Jabodetabek, Pekanbaru, and Makassar areas to make it easy for participation.
At the end of this phase, all participants are to submit their business plans for final judging, and the top 5 will be gathered in Jakarta for a final pitching competition held in May 2023 to compete for the final prizes of up to IDR20 million.
"The SisBerdaya initiative is our further commitment as a digital wallet that continues to bridge Indonesia's financial literacy and inclusion by expanding access to financial services for everyone, especially women, youth and MSMEs. Only 19% of the 500,000 MSMEs registered with DANA Bisnis are led by women. This indicates that women's lack of access, participation, and opportunities to use financial technology in their businesses may deter them from running their own business. Together with Ant Group, we hope to directly contribute to encouraging MSMEs led by women to have equal participation in the economic sector, expanding women's access and opportunities for holistic digital financial services, and increasing Indonesia's financial literacy and inclusion through SisBerdaya," said Agustina Samara, Chief People & Corporate Strategy of DANA Indonesia.
"SisBerdaya is an initiative that is close to our heart as it further elevates and empowers women’s role in the local community, and could lead to the start of a vibrant local community of women entrepreneurs who will continue to bond through knowledge sharing and networking to support each other. Growing this community is vital to advancing businesses and contributing to the local economy,” said Ms. Sabrina Peng, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant Group. “We are excited to work on SisBerdaya with our partner DANA. Together, we believe SisBerdaya will expand the development opportunities available to women entrepreneurs and support them to reach their full potential on a global scale.”
To make SisBerdaya a more inclusive programme, all materials developed during the skills training and mentorship will be made available to public on DANA app after the programme ends, potentially reaching and benefitting another 100,000 women business owners in Indonesia.
About DANA
DANA (PT Espay Debit Indonesia Koe) is a digital wallet-based technology financial company that provides payment platforms and financial services in Indonesia. Since its launch in December 2018, DANA has now reached more than 135 million users in Indonesia. DANA provides complete digital transaction solutions that are safe, easy and convenient for users, merchants and financial institutions. The DANA solution, developed by leading financial technology engineers in Indonesia, aims to advance and accelerate financial literacy and inclusion in Indonesia. Apart from empowering digital finance, DANA also seeks to encourage Indonesian society through impactful social initiatives that focus on empowering women and preserving the environment.
About Ant Group
Ant Group traces its roots back to Alipay, which was established in 2004 to create trust between online sellers and buyers. Over the years, Ant Group has grown to become one of the world's leading open Internet platforms.
Through technological innovation, Ant Group supports its partners in providing inclusive, convenient digital life and digital financial services to consumers and SMEs. In addition, it has been introducing new technologies and products to support the digital transformation of industries and facilitate industrial collaboration. Working together with global partners, the company enables merchants and consumers to make and receive payments and remit around the world.