Eddy Jahja Asnam is a GoRide driver partner from Bandung, West Java, who joined Gojek in 2015 after being unemployed for several years. Joining Gojek was a turning point in his life.
“In 2010, I was at the lowest point of my life. That year, my garment business went bankrupt and my wife suddenly passed away. Yet when I joined Gojek in 2015, I rediscovered the meaning of my life, serving passengers as a GoRide driver partner,” he said.
Besides serving his passengers, Eddy also initiated a GoRide driver partner community called GOBAN, short for Gojek Bandung. With this community, he hopes to help each other in managing their Gojek accounts and performing charity work together.
In 2017, Eddy had an idea to distribute free face masks to all his passengers. Now, he has produced and distributed about 15,000 free masks to passengers in Bandung and other cities.
Noting the need to keep healthy and hygienic, Eddy started to give free face masks to his passengers during the pandemic. “I do this to maintain consumer loyalty,” he said.
Eddy was one of the Gojek ecosystem partners whose inspiring stories were selected as the winners of the 2020 Gojek Partner Champion Award, locally known as the Mitra Juara Gojek 2020. Eddy’s story also won the hearts and votes of Indonesians who participated in voting for their most inspiring partner story.
The Gojek Partner Champion Award program is an annual award arranged by Gojek to show appreciation to partners who have been able to inspire others and to have a positive impact on themselves and their communities.
This year marks the third time the super app has organized this program and coinciding with Gojek’s 10th anniversary, this year the awards were given to partners in Indonesia and in other operational areas, namely Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore. This is in line with the unification of the Gojek brand where the company operates in the four countries in Southeast Asia.
The super app honors 27 partners across nine different categories based on the type of service provided by the partner; two-wheel, four-wheel, logistics, GoFood and GoPay; based on the partners’ geography; Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam; and lastly based on Gojekers’ or the public’s choice.
The total prize given by Gojek to the winners of the award amounts to more than Rp 600 million (US$42,333) comprising cash, shopping vouchers and products.
Gojek co-CEO Andre Soelistyo said he believed that Gojek’s success all these years was thanks to the support lent by all elements of its ecosystem, including drivers, merchants and business partners, as well as the government and the public at large.
“Thus, we hope this year’s award can motivate our partners to continue their efforts in impacting their environment positively, while injecting everyone with the #PastiAdaJalan (there is always a way) spirit,” Andre said.
Additionally, the Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama Kusubandio also expressed appreciation to Gojek driver partners’ positive contribution during the pandemic.
“I truly appreciate the way Gojek’s partners, who have impacted their communities positively, while also helping millions of people make their lives much easier during the pandemic, help people from all walks of life to remain productive and lead their best lives at this time,” Wishnutama said.
“Gojek’s success cannot be separated from the support lent by millions of its partners standing behind it, who have always been able to show their strength, optimism, hard work and diligence, especially amid these tough times,” he added.
Gojek cofounder and co-CEO Kevin Aluwi said that during the last 10 years, Gojek had been working hand-in-hand with its driver and merchant partners to make life easier for millions of people.
“The annual program is Gojek’s way of honoring our inspiring partners, who continue to display strength, optimism, hard work and diligence to remain productive, especially amid these tough times,” Kevin said.
“Under the spirit of #PastiAdaJalan, our champion partners have continued to impact their local communities positively. Using various sorts of ways, they’ve inspired us to continue innovating together in order to progress together,” he continued.
“Through many ways, they’ve always inspired us to keep on innovating so that together we can move forward. This year, not only have we expanded our annual award program to also include our partners in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam; we’ve also established our reputation as a Southeast Asian superapp,” he asserted.
Here are some more inspiring stories from the winners of 2020 Gojek Partner Champion Award:
Budi Julian (from Indonesia)
Budi “Jolie” Julian, along with his fellow driver partners noticed an income decline during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In June 2020, I noticed a fellow driver partner had a hard time trying to turn on the engine of his car in the middle of the road,” Jolie said.
From there, Jolie started an auto shop called Doski Trans Jaya Mandiri in Cipinang, East Jakarta, dedicating the auto shop to help fellow Gojek driver partners maintain and repair their vehicles.
Lasmawati (from Indonesia)
Lasmawati is an honorary teacher who has dedicated her life to advancing education in rural areas while also improving the livelihoods of village women and their families by organizing arisan (social gatherings).
“I originally joined as Gojek established business partner, Mapan, in 2017 with the hopes of saving enough money to earn a higher education. I remember my late father told me to pursue higher education and to make my mother happy. I wanted to go to university a few years ago, but I had not had enough money then. So the profits I get from this business, I save to pursue a higher education,” Lasmawati said.
Thanks to her involvement with Mapan, now she helps 350 village women, which is part of their arisan group, to afford to buy their dream items. Lasmawati also mentors about 72 village women to manage their businesses, be tech savvy and familiarize themselves with using digital payment through GoPay.
Dihya Nur Rifqy (from Indonesia)
Es Teh Indonesia (Indonesian Ice Tea) in Bogor, one of GoFood’s merchant partners, gives away products to individuals still on duty during the COVID-19 pandemic, including medical workers and informal workers such as security guards, street performers and scavengers.
“From a small booth, we’ve been able to rent a semi-permanent outlet and from there Es Teh Indonesia started to grow. Initially, we planned to expand to 150 outlets in several parts of Indonesia by the end of 2020. It turns out that we’ve been able to achieve that target by October 2020,” said Dihya Nur Rifqy, one of Es Teh Indonesia’s owners.
Thrilled with the business expansion, Es Teh Indonesia was inspired to help others in need during the pandemic and share in the business’ success. In addition, the opening of the new outlets across Indonesia has helped them recruit new employees who will work for the new outlets.
Heru Wibowo (from Indonesia)
Heru established and runs a cooperative focusing on staple foods and garments, with a monthly premium as affordable as Rp 50,000 per member. He also shares the profits that he has earned by lending it to those in need.
“I became a GoSend Sameday driver partner some years ago to make ends meet; I have a son and a wife, who’s currently pregnant with our second child. I am quite impressed by just how much income I get by being a GoSend Sameday driver partner; I find that I can save enough money for my children’s education from my work,” he said.
In order to motivate his fellow driver partners to improve the quality of their lives he set up the cooperative, through which he encourages driver partners to become entrepreneurs and earn more money to achieve their dreams.
Dodi Sandra (from Indonesia)
Amid the pandemic, Dodi gives away free food and beverages to the driver partners who are queuing to pick up orders at his Pempek Pistel outlet selling pempek (fish cakes), the trademark food of Palembang, South Sumatra.
“I joined Gojek as a GoRide driver partner in 2017, in 2019 I had this idea to join the GoWirausaha [Gojek’s entrepreneurship program] program. My wife was skeptical at the beginning but was then convinced to try our hands at this,” Dodi said.
Once they opened their first outlet, they joined various GoFood merchant partner communities, trading success secrets and keys to business excellence. Within a year, the couple were able to open three outlets on GoFood, employing some of their neighbors in the business as well.
To express their gratitude for their business success, they welcome any Gojek driver partners to drop by their outlets and enjoy some free snacks and beverages in the middle of their daily work.
Dodi said that business strategies aside, kindness was the key to their success. “We believe that the more you spread kindness to other people, the more you will also receive kindness from others,” Dodi said.
Wassana (from Thailand)
Wassana, the owner of the Prao Poong Kang by Jae Tak restaurant in Thailand, which offers diners affordable high-quality food, starting from $1 per portion, charged no additional fee for diners who’d like to take extra bowls of white rice. She also allows fellow driver partners to pay for their meals later if they are short of cash as many drivers often have to eat in a hurry, in between handling their pickup orders.
Nguyễn Đình Khánh (from Vietnam)
Khánh and his fellow driver partners have established a social community called Từ Tâm (kindness), which he is currently leading right now. Through the community, people work hand-in-hand to build houses for people who are underprivileged. He has also become part of Gojek’s SOS team, which helps individuals who suffer from traffic accidents.
Howe Yong Peng Laurence (from Singapore)
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has forced him to deal with so many life pressures, Laurence a GoCar driver partner, still helped his fellow Singaporeans by providing free predawn meals (sahur) to 120 migrant workers across three different boarding houses throughout this year’s fasting month of Ramadan. He would gather the food packages at 2 a.m. and would finish distributing them to all the migrant workers by 3:30 a.m.
Hopefully, these Gojekers’ stories can also inspire you to retain your optimism and continue spreading kindness to others during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, we can make it through this storm. There is always a way.
