Good news came at the end of 2023 for JALA! On Tuesday, December 19, 2023, JALA successfully secured the second place in the Pahlawan Digital UMKM 2023 (Digital Heroes of SMEs 2023) competition. This award was organized by the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (KemenKopUKM) in collaboration with the Special Staff of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Putri Tanjung. There were 10 finalists who participated in the awarding night held at The Telkom Hub, South Jakarta. Liris Maduningtyas, CEO of JALA, was present to accept this award.
This award did not come easily for JALA. The Pahlawan Digital program started with a business proposal curation round, followed by a regional pitching selection. Some of the criteria that were assessed for finalists to pass the round were the startup’s solution for specific issues faced, the uniqueness and sustainability of the solution, founder’s profile, and business growth.
JALA passed the first round as part of the ten finalists that were shortlisted to do a pitching round in Solo (Sebelas Maret University) last October 27 2023. In the regional elimination round, JALA won first place and finally had the opportunity to be at the national awarding night on December 19 2023.
The award ceremony was attended by three ministers: the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki, the Minister of Communication and Informatics (Menkominfo), Budi Arie Setiadi, and the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf), Sandiaga Uno. These ministers believed that digital startups play a significant role as a trigger to upgrade MSMEs in the upstream sector. They hoped that the finalists’ business contribute to a stronger and more stable economy at an MSME level.
Since the regional elimination round, JALA was the only startup led by a female CEO who was also its co-founder, and the only startup involved in the downstream fisheries sector. This fact greatly impressed the judges, as it proved how women had the same opportunity to bring impact in the industry. Equipped with the Internet of Things (IoT), JALA's various solutions such as the JALA App and JALA Baruno are #HeretoHelp shrimp farmers improve their productivity and the sustainability of their ponds.
Moving forward, the finalists of Pahlawan Digital 2023 will be given mentoring and an exclusive business matchmaking session with Putri Tanjung within the next 9 months. This commitment was made official by the signing of an MoU for the said session in the business funding session.
As CEO of JALA, Liris stated, “On behalf of JALA, I feel honored to be the finalist of Pahlawan Digital 2023. This certainly brings greater enthusiasm for us to continue to be able to create a bigger impact on the fisheries industry, especially shrimp in Indonesia and foster the growth of MSMEs in this sector.”
