Jakarta, Aug 2- The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in collaboration with Citi Foundation and the Ministry of Youth and Sports recently hosted a graduation ceremony for 50 young entrepreneurs from Indonesia’s eastern region, after completing Ideathonesia an online crowdsourcing course as part of the Youth Co:Lab initiative.

Ideathonesia’s theme this year was on entrepreneurship that focused on boosting the COVID-19 recovery effort through creative, sustainable, impactful, and innovative social entrepreneurship. At least 50 aspiring young entrepreneurs, including 21 women were selected to participate in the five-week training program.

 “Youth Co:lab is doing tremendous work supporting youth social entrepreneurship to fill the development gaps. The Ministry of Youth and Sports will continue to partner with UNDP and Citi to strengthen the youth entrepreneurship ecosystem in Indonesia,’’ said Imam Gunawan, Deputy Assistant of Youth Entrepreneurs, Ministry of Youth and Sports

“Citi Indonesia will continuously support this program. Highest appreciation goes to all of the participants for showing their exponential progress: launching new features, applications, strengthening go-to-market strategy, establishing new partnerships and other new initiatives,” said Agung Nugraha, International Communications Head of Citi Indonesia.

Despite the unprecedented impact on business, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to adapt business models that help serve the needs of various communities while providing employment for young people. “Ideathonesia helps young social entrepreneurs to develop new and innovative products that have social or environmental impacts which eventually contribute to the SDGs” said Muhammad Didi Hardiana, Head of the Innovative Financing Lab at UNDP Indonesia.

Ideathonesia provides opportunities for young women and men in Eastern Indonesia to learn and discuss various topics, such as developing and strengthening business models, validating ideas, developing Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and establishing a Go-To-Market Strategy. It also enables participants to network with other young entrepreneurs, experts, and mentors through a one-month workshop and online mentoring by the Social Innovation Acceleration Program (SIAP).

Kawara Panamung one of the participated Youth Entrepreneur organization whose business idea is to empower women in their village with weaving skills to produce woven with different colors and motifs from other ethnic groups and sell it to the bigger market. Lery mentioned that the main reason behind participating in  Ideathonesia is with the hope to understand the ins and outs of marketing and how to build a good and right business. “The project met our expectations, and we have gained new knowledge that will help us to get success as a Social Entrepreneur,” said  Lery Butarbutar from Kawara Panamung, an organization that works to empower women by encouraging them to market their woven material  in large markets.  He noted the value of understanding good business practice and added that focusing East Indonesia provided the opportunity for peer to peer learning. “It will also be exceptionally good for us to establish relationships with wider regional denominations,” he said.

About Youth Co: Lab

Co-founded in 2017 by UNDP and Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to empower and invest in youth in Asia and the Pacific, so they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship. In Indonesia, this initiative has benefited more than 17,000 and helped launch or scale-up more than 250 social entrepreneurs across the country.