Ecodoe was Elected Among the Top 16 Young Social Entrepreneurs 2015 in Singapore

Ecodoe was elected among the 16 Top  Young Social Entrepreneurs (YSE) 2015. Ecodoe was one of the  43 teams from across Asia and the Netherlands to compete in the YSE program. The Prestigious event which took place on 18-21 March 2015, in Singapore, was organized by the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) as a forum for youth to develop social entrepreneurship.

 

Ecodoe is a social enterprise that utilizes waste fur of sheep and vetiver from Garut for handicrafts. Ecodoe has successfully empowered housewife in the village of Babakan Bogor and craftsmen in Garut, West Java. Although the contestants were from various countries, however, the social entrepreneurship idea from the Indonesian team was taken into considerations. The Ecodoe team is guided by alumni of IPB. 

 

"Indonesia has a lot of local potentials. As young generation, we should be creative and innovative to develop the potential we have to be business and be actors for empowering the communities, "said Tatang Gunawan, one members of Ecodoe delegation who is the  alumni of the Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA IPB)

 

A series of YSE 2015 activities have encouraged not only Ecodoe and but also other contestants to be concerned with the social benefits of doing business, but also to train people to enable them to run businesses in a professional manner, although still within the scope of business start-ups. It was the statement made by Larasati Widyaputri, one of the Ecodoe delegates who is alumni of the Department of Resources and Environmental Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management (FEM IPB). "It’s important to have effective promotion to attract investors to invest on our businesses, as we understand there are many youths with brilliant idea, but finally they turn down their ideas as they do not know how to find appropriate funding to realize these ideas," she added.

 

Ecodoe and other selected teams were also awarded incentives to undertake training courses under the McKinsey and the study visit to India in upcoming August 2015. Among the 16 teams selected, seven Indonesian teams were selected to go to the final stage in October 2015, to be held in Singapore. Winners in the final stages will entitle to get development fund amounted to Rp. 200 million. (Wied).