Day: December 8, 2019

As one of the leading conglomerates in Indonesia, Salim Group is widely known to be the parent company behind Indofood, which produces instant noodle legend Indomie.

But in the past few years, the group has also been making its move in the country’s tech startup scene.

Apart from running its own corporate venture capital arm, Salim Group has worked with NUS Enterprise to bring the Block71 brand into Jakarta, Bandung, and Jogjakarta. It is also working with Japanese venture capital firm GREE Ventures to introduce accelerator programme SKALA.

Apart from that, Salim Group is behind food-focussed accelerator Accelerice and has secured a partnership with ESL to tap into the e-sports market.

“We see tech as an enabler to our wide array of customers, helping their experience to become more seamless. Take the example of [our portfolio company, local fast-food chain] Warunk Upnormal which now has its own apps for food order,” explains Edmund Carulli, investment portfolio manager at Salim Group’s corporate venture capital (CVC) arm.

Also Read: Indonesian conglomerate Salim Group invests in e-money app Youtap

“It is all about innovation. Every older corporation would certainly be aware that it is important to keep on innovating in order to maintain its growth. This is basically what Salim Group is doing. That is why we set the CVC aside from existing companies under the group,” he continues.

Speaking to the press at the sidelines of Nexticorn International Summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November, Carulli further explains the company’s move in building its own startup ecosystem –and why the existence of an ecosystem is crucial for the tech industry to grow.

“A startup ecosystem may include supports from the government, other startups, and infrastructure. Funding also plays a key role in it. Last but not least, market adoption is also critical,” he says.

“For this particular part, Indonesia has been doing really well, even at the regional level in Southeast Asia. It is easier for startups to grow in Indonesia and there is a great possibility for another unicorn to come up from the country,” he stresses.

Seeking for synergy

When asked about the group’s investment philosophy in a startup, Carulli puts an emphasis on having synergy with Salim Group’s family of companies.

Also Read: Salim Group, LOTTE Group join forces to launch online mall iLOTTE in Indonesia

“We first look for synergy with business groups within Salim Group, in which Indomaret and Indofood are the biggest. For example, is there a startup that can help us improve customer experience or operations at Indomaret? We are also seeking for startups in the automotive sector but have not found a suitable one yet,” Carulli says.

Their focus on early-stage investments is also strongly related to that element of collaboration.

“It would be easier for us to support them and for them to build synergy with our vision,” Carulli explains.

Responding to questions about the recent IPO failure of coworking space giant WeWork, which has led to scrutiny over tech companies’ valuation, Carulli says that Salim Group is not a big fan of the cash-burning approach.

“Ever since day one, we put an emphasis on building sustainability,” Carulli stresses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Around the world, from small startups to big MNCs, many have embraced and integrated this technology in various capacities, in their businesses. In the Asian subcontinent, Indonesia was quick to emerge as a forerunner in the race for blockchain adoption.

In fact, Bank Indonesia (BI) was one of the first institutions in the country to announce the launch of their own digital currency, backed by blockchain technology.

Since then, the country has come a long way and displayed great vigour in the acceptance of blockchain. An Indonesia Blockchain Association was established back in 2018 and it has been a key player in the formation of a strong, local blockchain community. What’s incredible is how blockchain is being used by many startups to empower marginalized sections of society and encourage more economical business practices on their part. 

Blockchain startups facilitating greater financial inclusion

A lot of the credit for the contemporary burgeoning blockchain community in the country goes to startups like Blockchain Zoo, the first company to offer blockchain consultancy services in the country and Blockchain Space Asia, both of which are founders of the blockchain association in Indonesia. With the advent of blockchain in Indonesia, many projects channelized the advantages of this technology to build tools for those who could benefit the most from this.

Financial inclusion or the availability of affordable financial services and products has been difficult to achieve for some sections of Indonesian society. Take the rural farmers, who have traditionally had to borrow money from loan sharks with unbelievably high-interest rates.

To end this financial extortion, blockchain startup Hara came up with a blockchain-powered platform to promote greater transparency in the food and agriculture sector. By digitizing loan administration and disbursement process of several financial institutions, the project has empowered small rural farmers to secure loans. CTO  Imron Zuhri emphasized the need to offer visibility to the invisible by saying,

“There are 1.5 billion people who have no proper ID in this world. By making them visible, by giving them an identity that they can use to identify themselves, then we can provide access to a lot within the system.” 

Another often neglected group is of those running small scale enterprises in Indonesia, who are facing severe competition from big businesses. Blockchain has in practice been able to break down the archaic financial systems and facilitate an alternative credit rating and payments system for small businesses.

The steadily growing startup Tokoin, is a prime example of such a business model. Co-founders Reiner Rahardja and Eddy Christian Ng have created a platform which aims to help MSMEs create their business profile and oversee their identity management, which could be used for credit scoring towards financial inclusion. Reiner Rahardja, CEO of Tokoin said,

“I started by establishing a small business by selling Cireng (a local fried snack in Indonesia) that I gradually popularized. Over the next 9 months, I was able to open up around 40 branches, a bento styled restaurant with 4 branches and eventually took to selling imported wood parquets.” 

While going over these two projects and looking into the background of their CEOs, a clear pattern emerged. For Regi Wahyu, CEO of HARA, his company is deeply personal to him. Brought up in a farming village in Sumedang, West Java, Wahyu has intimately and closely observed the circumstances of farmers in his country. He leveraged his background and personal experience to build his company from the ground up and experiment in the field of smart agriculture. 

The story for Tokoin’s CEO, Reiner Rahardja, is similar in many ways. He started off by establishing a small business by selling ‘Cireng’ (a local fried snack in Indonesia) that he gradually popularized.

Over the next 9 months, he was able to open up around 40 branches, a bento styled restaurant with 4 branches and eventually took to selling imported wood parquets. Had he not been a small scale entrepreneur managing his enterprise all by himself, he couldn’t have adjudged the ground reality and everyday struggles of MSMEs. His personal experiences pushed him to envision and build a venture like Tokoin. 

Financial inclusion has thus emerged as a major theme in Indonesian society, warranting increased attention from all sections of the society. What is impressive is that entrepreneurs are leveraging their personal experiences and struggles to come up with innovative solutions, making the entire industry a more ground-up industry.

Blockchain has successfully equipped people with the tools to digitize their businesses and expand it and we hope to see more such revolutionary ideas take the world by storm in the future.

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Tanya is a strategist, and have been helping business leaders around the globe solve key challenges. She created Native Spaces to make the events industry more efficient and transparent by facilitating the discovery and booking of unique underutilised spaces worldwide.

Email: contact@native-spaces.com

Web: native-spaces.com

Copyright – Podcasts for Startups by nfinitiv

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This article was first published on nfinitiv.

Image Credit: Sunyu Kim on Unsplash

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What you need to know about social media tech in Southeast Asia

Over the past few years, Southeast Asia has continued to grow and advance digitally. In 2017, a study found that there 339.2 million internet users and 305.9 million active social media users, with more than 200 million of those people using their mobile devices to browse social media networks.

Unlike in the U.S., internet access isn’t something that was always so readily available. But with more than half of Southeast Asia’s population using the internet, it’s no surprise that users have quickly picked up on social media platforms.

With continued growth in digital connectivity, it’s expected that more and more people will begin to use and invest in social media tech in the region. Here’s what you need to know about social media tech in Southeast Asia.

A boom in influencer marketing

For years now, influencer marketing has experienced a huge uptick in popularity. These days, companies are always looking for the latest and greatest ways to best market their brand and image. In the U.S., influencer marketing has experienced amazing success, and the same stands true in Southeast Asia.

With influencer marketing, brands are able to depend on modern-day word-of-mouth in order to increase brand recognition, reach, and visibility as ways to drive more interest and sales.

According to a survey conducted by PwC Global Insights, social media is the top factor that consumers consider both online and off. In fact, the survey found that more than half of Malaysian consumers reported being influenced by social media networks.

So what does this mean for you? If you’re a brand on Instagram or some other social media platform, you’ll want to place a heavy emphasis on not only getting Instagram followers and building a community but also identifying a well-known name in your industry that can serve as an influencer.

Mobile connectivity is on the rise

In terms of mobile social media use, Southeast Asia is ranked third worldwide. In fact, there are more than 376 million people that access social media using their mobile devices on a routine basis.

Just as mobile usage has become very popular in the U.S., it’s become common in Southeast Asia for similar reasons, including:

1. Ability to interact with content

2. Instant and convenient online shopping

3. Access to more information and connections

As more and more people become connected, it’s expected that the middle class will grow and get stronger, which paves the way for new businesses that look to social media and mobile connectivity as a way to marketing and engage with consumers.

Facebook is extremely popular

More than 60 per cent of Southeast Asia’s population is active on social media, a number that has steadily increased over the years. While people in the region use many social media platforms, Facebook is one of the most popular.

In fact, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Taiwan make the network’s top ten largest advertising audiences. With almost 98 per cent of its population aged 13 and above, social media sites like Facebook have become the goldmines of social media, allowing brands to reach millions of users on a regular basis.

For businesses, this means that Facebook should be the first platform to use as a way to digitally market your brand in Southeast Asia.

…and so are other social networks

While it’s not uncommon for people in Southeast Asia to use Facebook, Instagram, and other well-known social media platforms, the region also has a host of its own networks.

For example, people also use platforms such as WeChat, Sina Weibo, and others to stay connected and in the know. WeChat is the most popular social media network in China, serving more than one billion monthly active users.

Sina Weibo works very similar to Twitter in that users can share short messages, use hashtags, tag people, comment on posts, and even create polls.

Online regulation is real

As the online space in Southeast Asia continues to grow, governments in the region have quickly learned that regulation is a must. There are all sorts of laws that have been passed in order to provide an online environment that promotes social harmony and respect for the government.

For example, there are anti-fake news laws as well as laws that allow the geo-blocking of certain platforms and apps in many of the Southeast Asia countries.

While these laws are designed to keep citizens safe, there are opponents of many of these laws, citing free speech and overly broad legislation that is open to interpretation by those enforcing said rules.

We face similar challenges

For years there’s been an ongoing debate as to whether or not social media is more helpful than it is harmful. Have you ever looked at a photo on Instagram or Facebook and wish that you had that person’s life? You aren’t alone.

Many people use social media as a way to share an insight into their enviable lifestyles that seem to be nothing short of perfect. And while others don’t let lavish photos both them, studies have found that for some, these posts can have a damaging effect.

Indonesian researchers found that teenagers and young adults often feel resentment towards their richer friends after seeing their posts on social media. In a region where there’s dramatic inequality, many agree that social media can lead to jealousy, bitterness, and envy.

Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asian have a growing consumer class, but this class is a stark contrast between those who are unemployed or have less education.

Conclusion

Whether you’re an everyday consumer or the owner of an upcoming business, it pays to know what’s going on in the world around you.

While you may be aware of how people in your country use and embrace social media tech, it’s eye-opening to see the changes and statistics in other places throughout the world.

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By now, we all know that human bodies are programmed to progress as per the cadence of our solar system – typically known as the circadian rhythm.

The circadian rhythm is the internal clock of the human body that is responsible to regulate the sleep-wake cycle. In other words, it is responsible to regulate the alertness and sleepiness in our bodies by responding to the slight variations in our environment. Naturally, living beings are habitual of sleeping in the darker hours and feel alert in the early morning. This is all because of the synchronization of the circadian rhythm with the solar system.

Every single one of us wants to do give our best to the day with every next sunrise, and what factors we consider to be most important to achieve that are healthy nutritious intake, ample sleep, less stress, and sufficient workout. However, sadly, the reality is not so!

The human body is far more than what a layman imagines.

Digging the advancements of science and growing in an era of circadian rhythm lighting, by now, who doesn’t know the detrimental impacts of poor exposure to sunlight. The world knows that low or no exposure to sunlight can turn out to be disastrous for one’s health resulting in conditions like fatigue, eye strain, debilitating mental health, and just what not.

But what if I told you that sunlight has a directly proportional relationship with your productivity provided that your mind’s optimization is wholly dependent upon the lighting conditions you spend your day in.

Circadian rhythm lighting

Human bodies should progress with the harmony of their innate rhythm—the Circadian Rhythm to have the most out of their existence.

For suppose, you wake up on a heavenly bright day and feel empowered, prepared to get up and handle whatever agenda strikes you throughout the day.

Contrary to that, the next morning, you are welcomed to a dark stormy day as soon as you slide the curtains from the window, you feel like creeping back under the sheets to have some more sleep. Only if you are having vibes that your energy level is dependent upon the intensity and the frequency of the light exposure you have, you are not fooling, either assuming, because this is what it is!

Circadian rhythm lighting is a rare type of lighting system that was initially designed to mimic the daylight with respect to the changes in colour and brightness witnessing the fact that the sunlight has an ability to impose a dramatic impact on our body’s overall energy and productivity.

It is like a 24-hours internal clock regulating the sleep-wake cycle commanding a living being’s mind for staying alert and sleep.

What influences our circadian rhythm?

Have you ever pondered “how our internal clocks decide when we are supposed to be alert and sleepy at a certain time?”  It’s all because of plenty of light or lack in the opposite scenario, respectively. This is the reason that you won’t experience a similar energy spark on a dark stormy day as you enjoy on a bright sunny morning.

It is often assumed that the sun is the only one to be responsible for our productivity.  However, it is not so: artificial lights play a vital role when it comes to affecting our energy and productivity. You name it—and science will have it for you, here, we are drooling over the circadian lights, mood-enhancing lights, and many other healthy light bulbs bringing a revolution in our daily lives. Similar to how sunlight and moonlight regulate our sleep cycle, circadian rhythm lighting can also control it in the same way.

Overviewing artificial light sources, we came across blue lights that are more prevailing to interfere in our day-to-day routines. What a layman is unaware of:  blue lights are basically mood-enhancing lights and the ones responsible for condensing your sleep!

There are many devices like television, mobile phones, PCs, etc. to have an emittance of such blue light rays. As a result, it lightens your sleepy feeling while enhancing your mood at the same time.

How productivity is increased by circadian rhythm

The concept of circadian rhythm and productivity revolves around the secretion of a hormone called melatonin. The phenomena are regulated by the hypothalamus presented within the cerebrum of the human brain. This region is primarily responsible to transmit signals from the eyes to the brain alerting/notifying mind about day and night time. Hypothalamus is responsible for the secretion of melatonin to harmonize sleep with darkness and light with alertness.

It has been discovered that light imposes an effect on both, our visual and non-visual system—now may it be electric light or solar light, both imposes an effect on our circadian rhythm.

Circadian light is the innovation to support human health by minimizing the symptoms of circadian rhythm disorder. It is believed and proved that prolonged exposure to blue light at a certain intensity can affect the secretion of melatonin, adversely. The idea of circadian lighting is still new in the market. Hence, it is still residing in its early stages of development and research.

However, up till now, there are three approaches validating the circadian lighting system:

1. Intensity tuning

2. Colour tuning

3. Stimulus tuning

Intensity Tuning

Intensity tuning has a very prominent share in the circadian lighting technology. These lights maintain a fixed correlated temperature but the intensity is customized as the hours’ pass and we move minute by minute from sunrise to sunset.

For instance, kick-starting the day with lower intensity in the earliest hours as the sun begins to rise, crawling to the maximum intensity in the afternoon, and wrapping up with a remarkable reduce in it as the sunsets and we encounter evening.

Colour tuning

Circadian rhythm lights are designed with customized color tuning to mimic the correlated color temperature for different times of the day. These lights are capable of being customized to cool color temperatures of 4000K to 10,000K during the late evening hours so that a person may feel relaxed and sleep peacefully without any disturbance being caused by exposure to the blue light or anything else. Similarly, they are featured to customize to a warm-cool temperature ranging from < 2700K to 3500K simulating daylight to help a person stay alert.

Stimulus tuning

Paired with intensity tuning, these light fixtures are inherent to reduce the bad blue light effect and transform it into a good blue effect during the night time hours. The feature is present to keep the CCT In place while suppressing the melatonin secretion so that a person may fall asleep quite easily.

Techniques to reduce stress

Crawling down to techniques to reduce stress, blue light therapy is regarded as the best source for the purpose. Scientists prove that where blue light disrupts your sleep, it also works at enhancing your focus and concentration, significantly. Hence, directly or indirectly, it can help one reduce stress easily.

Conclusion

Circadian rhythm is one of those things that are not supposed to be ignored by any individual. If you want to stay healthy and function like a normal healthy person, it is vital to keep a check of your body’s internal clock.  Circadian rhythm does more than one thinks of it.

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