Aku Bisa

EARCOS Global Citizenship Award Winner 2023 Aku Bisa translates to “I Can” in the Indonesian language, a statement of empowerment that underlines how everyone, no matter their background, can learn or achieve anything. Aku Bisa’s vision is to cultivate underprivileged young people into becoming sustainable entrepreneurs who are adopters of modern technology that are able to bring prosperity to and strengthen the economy of the community around them. In order to achieve this vision, we have developed a technology-based entrepreneurial curriculum especially crafted for the underprivileged teenagers. This curriculum introduces the concept of entrepreneurship, marketing, branding, finance and includes step by step instructions on launching an e-commerce business through various digital platforms. It also focuses on the qualitative aspect of learning as we ensure that our lessons are easy to understand, fun, and fosters an open-minded and collaborative class. Currently, the 32-person Aku Bisa team is applying this curriculum to provide hands-on training to more than 100 individuals in three locations: Singapore, Nusa Tenggara Timur (Indonesia) and Bandung (Indonesia). Using the knowledge they have gained through the training and with the guidance and monitoring from our mentoring team, they have successfully launched 3 e-commerce ventures, Mr. Crispy (crispy mushroom snack produced from organic mushrooms that they grow in-house), Crispisang (crispy banana chips made from special banana found only in East Indonesia) and Arupik (crispy banana chips). The Aku Bisa curriculum has been shared with 5 other organizations (thus impacting additional 350 lives) and is free to download from our website and social media channels.