An initiative called SisBerdaya, sponsored by Ant Group and run by Indonesian FinTech company Dana, aims to support female entrepreneurs in Indonesia in building their digital and business management abilities.
A three-month competition and mentorship will make up the course. 180 submissions will be chosen by a team of judges, and they will have access to a one-month mentoring program and a small financial award.
When the program is over, the materials created during the skills training phase and mentorship will also be made publicly accessible on the Dana app.
Participants’ business proposals will be submitted for final evaluation after the training time. In May, the top five will go to Jakarta for a final pitching competition where they will compete for up to 20 million rupiah ($1,299) in prize money.
“Only 19% of the 500,000 MSMEs registered with Dana Bisnis are led by women,” Agustina Samara, chief people and corporate strategy of Dana Indonesia, said in a press statement.
Participants from ultra-micro enterprises, which can have up to five employees and a monthly revenue of up to 10 million rupiah (US $649.6), as well as micro firms, which can have up to 20 employees and a monthly revenue of no more than 30 million rupiah (US $1,948), are both eligible for the program.
In August 2022, Dana raised its most recent $250 million in investment. A subsidiary of Ant Group, Alibaba, also acquired shares in the digital wallet startup from longtime investor Emtek for US $304.5 million.
