(Transkrip Bahasa Indonesia di sini)
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While the average Indonesian has always had an appreciation of gold as a reliable investment, the ravages of COVID have driven massive volumes into this "safe haven" asset. The user base of Indonesia's leading digital gold and investment platform Pluang for instance has grown a stunning 20 times since the start of the pandemic. Gold moreover has returned 36% over the past year in Rupiah terms.
Our guest on Indo Tekno, Pluang cofounder Claudia Kolonas, discusses both this exciting corner of Indonesia's FinTech scene, while also reflecting on the many challenges that face the female entrepreneur in Indonesia.
As a student at Harvard Business School, Claudia and her cofounder began on working on a business plan with inspiration from an HBS course titled "Business at the Base of the Pyramid." Pluang's focus is on unbanked, first-time investors in Indonesia and, as such, it collaborates extensively with strategic partners such as Gojek to improve digital and financial literacy amongst these first time investors. The platform enables investment in Sharia-compliant digital gold products. Pluang meanwhile has its sites set on other traditional financial products such as equity indices, fixed income products and mutual funds
With women representing only 22% of Indonesia's tech workforce (far below the region's 32%), Claudia exhorts employers to consider expanding support of working women in the form of on-site daycare and other facilities. She meanwhile counsels aspiring female entrepreneurs to be brave and "outspoken", and to "lean in" to opportunities and be ready to grab what they can.