JICA Supported NINJA 2022 Indonesian Cohort to be Showcased in Japan!

First time in the history of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) partnering with ANGIN, NINJA (Next Innovation with Japan) accelerator Demo Day in Japan has been successfully held on Thursday, February 16th, 2023, bringing three selected Indonesian startups to Tokyo, Japan.

NINJA Accelerator Demo Day in Japan was held on Thursday, February 16th, 2023 at JICA HQ, Tokyo. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), collaborating with ANGIN, has selected 3 Indonesian startups as NINJA 2022 Cohort. The 3 cohorts provide solutions in waste management and low carbon emission areas: Bell Society, CarbonEthics, and Surplus Indonesia. They have been selected in November 2022 over other 256 applicants, then supported with the  tailored mentoring sessions covering 4 topics: Business, Fundraising, Japanese Cultural, and Pitch Coaching, with the Impact consultation sessions.

After going through all the phases of the JICA NINJA Accelerator 2022, Semeru Gita Lestari, COO of Bell Society, recently shared about her journey during the program. “JICA NINJA Project is an amazing and helpful program for startups! The quality of the accelerator, the sincerity of the mentors, the discussion and the support, and the new connections that they’re trying to build were excellent. It also helped us both with client engagement and investor readiness. Along the way, we have built a great network with other startups and potential partners and collaborators in Japan. The experience gained on the JICA NINJA Project is something I will forever be grateful for!” she explained.

This Demo Day in Japan remarks the end phase of the NINJA accelerator program 2022 to support the startups in showcasing their business to meet with curated local, regional, Japanese, and global investors. The event was started by the warm greeting  from Mr. Keiji Katai, Senior Director, Planning and Strategy Division, Private Sector Partnership and Finance Department of JICA HQ. 

“JICA believes all three start-ups have great potential to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as climate change and food waste, and also scale to larger business size with the possible partnership with the audience today. Hope that today's session will lead to partnerships between start-ups and you, which will make a significant contribution to solving social problems in Indonesia,” Mr. Keiji Katai said.

 On the occasion, Aisha Nadira, Partnership Business Development Lead at ANGIN, also had an opportunity to share about Indonesia entrepreneurship ecosystem, which hopefully can connect Japan to Indonesia business parties closer and be able to create another fruitful collaboration. The attendees were not limited to Japanese investors and partners, but also Indonesian representatives in Japan. The Cohorts have been engaged intimately and received more intensive feedback in order to have a continuous partnership or financial collaboration. NINJA 2022 Cohorts were fully accommodated to optimize the business trip in Japan, including to have In-person meetings with several connected and potential investors and partners in Japan. 

“I think the JICA NINJA Accelerator Demo Day in Japan is impressive, especially for early-stage startups since it provides networking opportunities that connect us with potential investors, business partners, and other stakeholders that we would not otherwise be able to meet. We hope that this program will be a sustainable one that assists many early-stage startups that need to grow their businesses in Indonesia. As early-stage startups, we really need this Demo Day in Japan because it will help us capture business growth and corporate strategy. Thank you to JICA for providing the opportunity,” Calvin Rudolph, COO of Surplus Indonesia, added his opinion towards his experience of the JICA NINJA Demo Day Accelerator in Japan.

Documentation

Feel free to see more photos here: bit.ly/JICANINJA22_DemoDayJapan_Documentation.

Left to right, Arka Irfani (CEO of Bell Society) , Agung Bimo (CEO of CarbonEthics), and Muh. Agung Saputra (CEO of Surplus Indonesia) showcased their business during the pitching session at the NINJA Demo Day in Japan event.

JICA NINJA Accelerator 2022 Cohorts, the 3 selected Indonesian start-ups, (Bell Society, CarbonEthics, and Surplus Indonesia) were at the Embassy of The Republic Indonesia, in Tokyo, Japan. 

MEET THE NINJA 2022 COHORTS

Bell Society

Bell Society develops and produces biomaterial leather by converting coffee ground waste, as well as other organic waste. Leather is used as bags, shoes, wallet materials. Bell Society sources coffee and organic waste from cafes, restaurants and directly from coffee farmer cooperatives. Their growth plans will include the scale and global distribution in order to be the global brands and have collaboration all over the world within the next 2 years. 

CarbonEthics

CarbonEthics supports institutions and individuals on climate action through carbon calculation and carbon offset via community-based mangrove conservation. CarbonEthics plans to enter the global carbon credit market by providing verified carbon projects and expanding its ecosystem expertise from blue carbon to the wider Nature Climate Solutions.

Surplus Indonesia

Surplus Indonesia is a mobile application-based marketplace for food merchants to sell overproduced meals and food items at discounted prices, allowing food merchants to generate revenue from imperfect and near expired date (NED) products, and reduce waste management expenses, while also allowing consumers to discover good quality and edible food at affordable prices. Surplus Indonesia aims to boost their B2C and B2B strategy and expand the operations.

ABOUT  NINJA ACCELERATOR PROGRAM 2022

JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) partnered with ANGIN, is excited to boost the impactful entrepreneurial ecosystem of Indonesia through NINJA (Next Innovation with Japan) accelerator program 2022. This highly selective initiative aims to support and equip impactful Indonesian start-ups to face curated investor lists, expand partnership opportunities, and achieve financial support. 

NINJA Demo Day is part of the NINJA accelerator program 2022 which aims to showcase the 3 selected startups who have received the tailored mentoring sessions.

Learn more about NINJA Accelerator Program 2022 from here.

About JICA 

JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) is a governmental agency that delivered the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) under the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and promotion of international cooperation. 

Learn more about JICA Indonesia from here.

About ANGIN 

ANGIN is Indonesia’s first and largest tech-enabled early stage investment platform and development advisory consulting company, working to build a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. The shareholders and team strive to support Indonesia's economic development by investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs and by bringing best in class practices to Indonesian early stage investment.

Learn more about ANGIN from here.

Press contact

This article was written  by Ignatia Kristianti, Communication Officer at ANGIN. 

Contact person: aisha@angin.id, Partnership Business Development Lead of ANGIN.