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Mitra Tokopedia helps unbanked people find school fee payment solution
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(Courtesy of Tokopedia)
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lthough not as fast as in advanced countries, digital payment continues to thrive in Indonesia as many people, especially those living in remote areas beyond Java island, remain unbanked.
According to the Financial Services Authority (OJK), unbanked citizens account for an estimated 51 percent, or 95 million of the country's 273 million population in 2021. They either do not have a bank account or do not have access to a financial institution.
While many people living off the beaten track outside Java have no bank account, digital infrastructure that connects the flow of digital cash across the payment value chain, such as a point of sale (POS) system, is yet to exist.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, to learn that digital payment service providers have emerged to help unbanked people have access to payment solutions.
One such provider is InfraDigital Nusantara (IDN), which focuses on the digital payment ecosystem. The company, in collaboration with Tokopedia, has established a payment ecosystem, or warung online, through what is called Mitra Tokopedia in numerous mayoralties/regencies across Indonesia.
Millions of traditional business players have reaped the benefits from the presence of warung Mitra Tokopedia, an application that enables individuals or traditional businesses, such as warung and similar kinds of businesses, to supply their goods and sell digital products, which recently also launched its latest feature that allows parents to pay school fees.
Haula Alfikri, a warung owner that joined the Mitra Tokopedia ecosystem, said, “With the new service, we can help parents to pay school fees much easier as they don’t have to travel long distances like they used to. Besides, I can also gain extra income from the new service.”
To date, millions of traditional business players have made use of Mitra Tokopedia to serve millions of people in more than 500 mayoralties/regencies across Indonesia.
InfraDigital Nusantara CEO Ian McKenna said IDN’s mission was to help every educational institution to be digitally enabled.
“We strive to support educational institutions located in remote areas where many parents still have no access to the banking sector. We appreciate a collaboration with Mitra Tokopedia in providing the service,” he said.
To pay school fees through warung in the Mitra Tokopedia ecosystem, users only need to visit the nearest warung Mitra Tokopedia and give the name of the school and payment number or student number.
Tokopedia head of new retail Doni Nathaniel said, “Through the facility, we want to participate in sustaining education of students across Indonesia because Tokopedia believes that better education can bring better lives.”
According to Doni, the launch of the new service is a way for Tokopedia to help empower traditional businesses through technology.
The collaboration with IDN enables students from more than 6,000 educational institutions that are part of the IDN network to pay their school tuition through millions of warung and Mitra Tokopedia shops. The IDN network covers schools, universities, pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) and community learning centers (PKBM).
