Indosat Ooredoo Announces Winners of SheHacks 2021

Indosat Ooredoo, Indonesia’s digital telco, held the winner announcement of SheHacks 2021, an innovation program launched in June 2021 to Empower Women Through The Power of Technology and reduce the gender gap in women’s economic, education, and health.

The three winners who received a total prize of Rp100 million were: the Wegrow Team with the 'Wegrow (Green Living Platform)' proposal, Triasih with the 'Central Room' proposal, and Troopers with the 'Wifood, save it don't waste it' proposal.

The SheHacks 2021 winner announcement event, held virtually, was opened by the Director & Chief Operating Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, Viram Sinha, and received a welcome from the Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection, Bintang Puspayoga and Director of Digital Economic Governance of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Selliane Halia Ishak. The event was also attended by SheHacks participants and the Indonesian women's community, CEO of LinkAja, Haryati Lawidjaja, and Construction Director of MRT Jakarta, Silvia Halim, as talk show speakers with the theme 'How to Overcome the Challenges for Women in Tech'.

Director & Chief Operating Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, Vikram Sinha, said, “SheHacks 2021 comes with a simple goal in mind: to empower more women in tech in making profound contributions to reduce gender gap we found in almost every aspect of life. It is a humbling experience for us to see these amazing ideas and works of these inspiring women. Their lively spirit to find proper solutions to tackle emerging problems related to the gender gap has made me believe in the promising future of women in tech. We hope that all participants and winners can take full benefits of the SheHacks program and that their works come to life and make real contributions in improving the quality of life and the role of women in Indonesia!”

The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia, Bintang Puspayoga, said “We really appreciate and support the efforts of Indosat Ooredoo which has made a real contribution to gender mainstreaming in Indonesia through the SheHacks program. This is part of the solution in reducing the gender gap in terms of economic, education and health, with the use of technology.

Women’s empowerment is a complex and multi-sectoral issue, so commitment and cooperation between institutions, both government and private, is very important. Our congratulations to the 10 selected finalists whose winners will be announced at today’s event.

Hopefully the selected participants who are entitled to participate in the buddy program can truly account for the program that has been made so that it can have a real impact on women’s empowerment in Indonesia. Let’s continue to make real efforts and make a real contribution to achieve gender mainstreaming. Perempuan berdaya, anak terlindungi, Indonesia maju!”

Director of Digital Economic Governance of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Selliane Halia Ishak, said, “We really appreciate the SheHacks program from Indosat Ooredoo. The participants' innovation work which is the right solution to overcome the problems related to the gender gap, has made us believe in a promising future for the role of women in technology. We hope that the SheHacks program can motivate other parties to jointly increase the role of Indonesian women by using technology to contribute to the creative industry and improve Indonesia's digital economy.”

This year’s SheHacks successfully empowered 1.453 Indonesian women ranging from 15-40 years old and received a total of 477 problem-solving proposals. This achievement shows a significant increase from the previous year with a total of 95 participants and 30 submitted proposals. The reach of SheHacks 2021 is also wider than 2020, as 23% of the total participants come from outside of Java Island.

The finalists are judged based on problem intensity, sustainable solutions, products and markets, potential impact, competitiveness, communication, and others. The judges involved included Arief Musta'in (Director & Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer of Indosat Ooredoo), Natasha Nababan (Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer of Indosat Ooredoo), Haryati Lawidjaja (CEO of LinkAja), Samira Shihab (CEO & Co-Founder of Tinkerlust), and Dwi Faiz (Head of Programme UN Women Indonesia).

The Best Three Winners received cash prizes totaling IDR 100 million, comprising IDR 50 million for the 1st Winner, IDR 30 million for the 2nd Winner, and IDR 20 million for the 3rd Winner. The five participants with the best proposals also had the opportunity to make presentations to potential global partners to get the possibility of developing and even funding their innovative work.