People with Disabilities Success in Developing Startup Kopi Tuli

Several people with disabilities develop a startup in the culinary sector. The startup is called Kopi Tuli or Koptul. “We build this startup to accommodate people with disabilities who find it difficult to get jobs because of their disabilities,” Putri Sampaghita Trisnawinny Santoso, the founder of Kopi Tuli said.

Putri, who graduated from Visual Communication Design major claimed to have sent many applications to at least 500 companies. However, all of the companies did not want to accept her. Because she is someone with disabilities, the companies were afraid that it would be difficult to communicate with her.

Using sign language, Putri and her two partners, Mohammad Adhika Prakoso and Tri Erwinsyah Putra, founded Kopi Tuli (Deaf Coffee). “Coffee was selected because it is a medium of communication. People typically have coffee while communicating with others,” she said.

Kopi Tuli itself was established on 12 May 2018. Putri hoped that this company can support the use of sign language as a way to communicate and build interaction. Moreover, it is supposed to provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities as well.

Putri: We Want to Have 1,000 Coffee Outlets in Indonesia

Currently, there have been two Kopi Tuli outlets in the Duren Tiga area, Jakarta and Depok, West Java. Putri has also employed nine workers until now. She claimed to have a dream of establishing 1,000 coffee outlets in the country or other words, could employ 4,000 people with disabilities.

“Kopi Tuli is the answer to our disappointment. This is because we are always rejected as people with disabilities. I sent applications to 200 companies and all of them were rejected,” another founder of Kopi Tuli, Mohammad Adhika Prakoso, added.

Kopi Tuli itself is one of the participants in the UI Works Accelerator Program. This program became a place for startups to meet potential investors. This program is one of the agendas in the sequence of accelerating startup business events which has been running in three months.

This is a follow-up for the incubation program which previously held by the University of Indonesia. This year, 15 startups were participating in the program. Through the program, it is hoped that an ecosystem of start-up companies can be created, so it can accommodate the rapid entrepreneurial developments.

Meanwhile, Adhika hoped that through this event, his company can get investors to set up four coffee shops with a capital of IDR 2 billion. The cost of one coffee shop is IDR 500 million. Then, coffee sold at Kopi Tuli costs IDR 18,000 to IDR 20,000 per cup.

Kopi Tuli as Participant of UI Works Accelerator Program

Going forward, Adhika hoped to be able to build more outlets and produce skilled workers through the coffee shop. Before joining the first batch of this accelerator program, Kopi Tuli should compete with the other 85 registrants which come from all over Indonesia.

Thus, Kopi Tuli is selected as one of the top 15 best startups that can present its business in front of potential investors. Kopi Tuli is included in the consumer product category along with other startups like Giajeng, Belimbing Island, and Tumbu.

Aside from the consumer product category, there are other startups from the engineering/science and digital platform category. As a participant, Kopi Tuli and other startups received guidance from several mentors that come from various industries such as Plug and Play, Mandiri Capital, Gojek, Binar Academy, Kitabisa.com, and Google Indonesia.

Kopi Tuli also received intensive curation so that it can be ready when presenting its business to potential investors. The founders of the startup indeed hoped to gain some capital from the investors. Thus, they can make their dream to make more coffee shops come true.