Indosat Ooredoo Launches SheHacks 2021 to Address Gender Inequality

Indosat Ooredoo has launched SheHacks 2021, an innovation program for Indonesian women that uses technology to address the challenges of gender inequality. SheHacks 2021 is part of Indosat Ooredoo’s sustainability (CSR) strategy under its Women's Empowerment pillar.

SheHacks 2021 was launched at an event hosted by Indosat Ooredoo and attended by leading dignitaries: Ibu Tri Rismaharini, Minister of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia; Ibu Angkie Yudistia, Millennial Presidential Expert Staff of the Republic of Indonesia; H.E. Fawziya E. Al-Sulaiti, Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Republic of Indonesia; and Ibu Dwi Faiz, the Head of Programmes UN Women Indonesia.

President Director & CEO of Indosat Ooredoo, Ahmad Al-Neama, speaking at the launch event said: “Compared to the last decade, the lives of Indonesian women have significantly improved, but there still remains significant gender inequality in many aspects of life. Empowering women by improving their economic capacity through the use of digital technology has long been a priority for Indosat Ooredoo. This is why we initiated SheHacks in 2020 and expanded the program this year. Through the program we aim to provide mentorship and training to Indonesian women, helping them develop digital solutions to address some of the real problems they face."

Indosat Ooredoo sees a huge untapped opportunity to reduce the gender gap through the power of technology. Initiated in 2020, SheHacks aims to empower and improve the innovation among Indonesian women so that they can hack their problems through creative breakthroughs to address the social and economic challenges that they experience today.

During the launch event H.E. Fawziya E. Al-Sulaiti, Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Republic of Indonesia, underlined the strong relations between the two countries; the State of Qatar and the Republic of Indonesia, which have led to wonderful possibilities and big opportunities for a program like SheHacks.

"SheHacks is an innovative program that can help women to sharpen their skills and enlarge their capacity.” H.E Al-Sulaiti added, "I hope that this program will empower more Indonesia women in the future and help them to learn new concepts and technology."

This year's SheHacks will focus on addressing inequality in three main areas: economy, education, and health. Specifically, the program aims to empower women to increase their economic contribution by fostering entrepreneurship; increase access to education, and improving access to health services. SheHacks 2021 aims to reach more than 1,000 Indonesian women as participants and engage with various other women's empowerment communities across Indonesia.

“Through this sustainability program, Indosat Ooredoo will continue to assist SheHacks graduates in turning their innovations into real-world solutions, in collaboration with the Government and global organizations such as UNDP, UN Women, and GSMA Connected Women. We hope that SheHacks will be the starting point to reduce the gender gap and continue to create a bigger impact to achieve gender equality in Indonesia,” concluded Ahmad.

To enter SheHacks 2021, participants can register and submit their program proposals starting June 9th until July 9th, 2021. All Indonesian women under 40 years old can join the competition in a team of maximum 3 members. Selected finalists will be given the privilege of an in-depth mentoring and the winners will be announced in August 2021. Lastly, the winners will go through a four-month buddy program where they will be connected to the right stakeholders to actualize their solution.