Tokopedia Collaborates with UNIKA Atma Jaya to Create Courses

Unicorn Tokopedia collaborates with Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (UNIKA) to create e-commerce courses through a joint course program. It aims to generate more digital talent in this sector.

Tokopedia Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman Leontinus Alpha Edison said that the formation of this course is one of the Tokopedia Academy’s initiatives or a forum to hone Indonesia’s digital talents.

Tokopedia Academy also facilitates the creation of innovations that make people’s lives easier. The e-commerce inaugural lecture will start in August or the odd semester of the 2021/2022 academic year.

This is open to students of the Management and Industrial Engineering study program at UNIKA Atma Jaya. Leontinus hopes that the presence of these courses can accelerate the adoption of digital platforms for as many Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as possible, including students.

“That way, business actors can maintain their business even in the midst of a pandemic,” he said in a press release, Thursday (29/4).

The Program is Expected to Unravel the Barriers for MSMEs Go Digital

Meanwhile, UNIKA’s Chancellor Atma Jaya Prasetyantoko hopes that the program will unravel the obstacles for MSMEs when entering the digital market, namely the lack of introduction to technology and knowledge.

Therefore, the university will prepare a comprehensive curriculum for students across study programs. “The curriculum also refers to industrial needs,” said Prasetyantoko. That way, students can get to know more about digital industries and markets such as Tokopedia.

UNIKA Atma Jaya has previously included courses related to digital technology, namely financial technology (fintech). “We also designed modules to support training programs for MSME players,” he said.

Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki added, the collaboration between digital platforms and campuses will result in research, innovation, and entrepreneurial empowerment in terms of digital marketing, capital to pricing strategies for MSMEs.

“MSMEs can take advantage of this momentum as an acceleration of digital transformation, with the hope of adapting through various innovations and mastery of technology,” said Teten.

Teten said, 4.7 million MSMEs had penetrated the digital ecosystem in the last 11 months. Overall, the number reaches 12 million or 19% of the total around 64 million MSMEs.

Meanwhile, Tokopedia has attracted around 2.8 million new MSME partners who joined the platform in 2020. Currently, the total sales partners are more than 10 million.

Based on World Bank data, as many as 80% of MSMEs who are members of the digital ecosystem have better resilience during the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tokopedia Introduces Hyperlocal Initiative

Tokopedia supports business activists in Indonesia, especially local MSMEs, through hyperlocal initiatives to realize the mission of digital economic equity in Indonesia.

In practice, in addition to providing intensive assistance for MSMEs in various cities, Tokopedia also collaborates with local governments to realize the digitalization of local MSMEs.

Tokopedia’s Head of Regional Growth Expansion (RGX), Trian Nugroho, said that the use of technology platforms such as Tokopedia is a solution for local MSME activists to be able to maintain their business in the midst of a pandemic while simultaneously driving the regional economy.

“Through collaboration with local governments throughout Q4 2020, Tokopedia has partnered with new sellers, both individuals and traditional markets in various cities, such as Semarang, Medan, Palembang, Bandung, Surabaya, Malang, and Makassar,” added Trian.

Tokopedia also provides a Preferred Store Collection (KTP) campaign. In practice, local MSMEs in Semarang can get assistance in starting and developing online businesses, as well as a special page on Tokopedia.

There is also Tokomart which carries geo-tagging technology to make it easier for people to get daily necessities from the nearest seller.

“This innovation is already available in Jabodetabek and Bandung and will be for the people of Semarang in the near future,” he said.