Many students have dreams of attending competitions or conferences abroad and I am grateful to be one of those who managed to experience this – and not just once. Thanks to Tanoto Foundation, an independent family philanthropy organisation founded by Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto in 1981, I was able to attend one international conference and one mentoring program.

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First, I went to Singapore to attend the Asia Student Leadership Conference (ASLC) from 5 to 8 July, 2019. At ASLC, I met many young Asian representatives and participated in many discussions about the important issues that the world is facing, ranging from refugee crises to gender inequality, lack of access for people with disabilities, and the misuse of social media. What I really liked about the ASLC is how we were taught about social entrepreneurship, and how I was able to build networks with many great, young peers.

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The second opportunity was even more valuable to me, as I got to be mentored at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, United States from February 16 to 20, 2020. This opportunity was granted after my team, WeHelp.ID, won the Ideas for Action Incubator Competition (I4AIC) at the national level.

The Ideas for Action Incubator Competition was a joint initiative between Tanoto Foundation and the Wharton School, inviting Indonesian students and young professionals to develop and share their ideas for financing solutions to deliver the SDGs. The winners of the competition would receive valuable mentoring from Wharton professors, in preparation for competing in the Global Ideas for Action Competition.

I first learnt about the I4AIC from Tanoto Foundation. As a Tanoto Scholar, I often get plenty of interesting information about leadership programs both at the national and international levels. As soon as I heard about the competition, I immediately invited my friends – who are all also Tanoto Scholars – to form a team with me and join the competition. We spent some time brainstorming before finally deciding on the topic of ‘Protection of Women and Children in Makassar’. According to the data we obtained, the number of women and child abuse cases in the province is quite high.

We then decided to make a mobile app – called WeHelp – which was also the name of our group. The app is an online consultancy, providing guidance to victims of violence, with a focus on female and child victims. We work together with lawyers and psychologists to become consultants who provide advice and solutions to the victims.

We decided to create this online consulting service because victims of violence usually find it extremely difficult to share their experiences, when asked to report directly to the authorities. People tend to be more open about the problems they face when their identities are kept secret during an online consultation.

When I was in junior high school, I was a Child Ambassador for authority of Sidrap district, South Sulawesi. At that time, I was a peer counselor and spent time listening to my friends about their worries and problems. From this experience, I learned quite early on that people sometimes have problems but do not have the courage to tell anyone, either because of shame or fear.

As a millennial, I really hope that WeHelp.ID will help provide solutions to many people in the community, and that their lives consequently improve as a direct result.

This article was written by Nur Efendi Darming, Tanoto Scholar from Hasanuddin University

On 18 Feburary 2020, students in Ideas for Action and Dr. Djordjia Petkoski’s LGST401 and LGST230 classes met with winners of the Ideas for Action competition from Indonesia, sponsored by the Tanoto Foundation, an independent family philanthropy organisation founded by Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto in 1981, during a lunch at Jon M. Huntsman Hall. Below are some takeaways of students from the conversations.

“It was rewarding getting to meet Steven and Krisna from eLarvae in person after working with them remotely over the last few months. One of our initial suggestions to eLarvae’s proposal was to elaborate upon on their financials/business model in order to further satisfy the feasibility criteria of the competition guidelines – so during our meeting, we were able to discuss how they could go about valuing eLarvae’s two lines of business (including inputs they can begin to measure, revenue projection equations, market sizing techniques, etc.) We were really excited about the outcome of the lunch and look forward to seeing eLarvae’s future progress.” -Yani Li (W’22)

“I truly enjoyed getting to know all the members of the Tanoto foundation that came to lunch on Tuesday. I participated in brainstorming a business plan for one group that aims to help women in Indonesia who are suffering from abuse. It was interesting to learn how they were incorporating a phone application to connect women virtually with counselors.” -Lucy Xu (ENG’23 W’23)

“Meeting with members of the Tanoto Foundation opened my eyes to local challenges women are facing in Indonesia. I enjoyed talking to our guests about how the resources and opportunities we have at Penn can help their startups succeed and target a larger audience to create more impact.” -Beste Balki (W’20)

Article originally posted in Ideas for Action website, link here.