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Grab technology boosts economic opportunities, financial access in Kalimantan
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(Courtesy of Grab)
As one of the youngest cities in Indonesia, Tarakan, North Kalimantan, has grown and developed rapidly in recent years.
Human development in Tarakan continues to make progress, with the city’s Human Development Index (IPM) reaching 76,09 in 2019, an increase of 0.4 points compared with the previous year. Unemployment rates also went down in 2019, showing that Tarakan possesses great potential to grow further and become a thriving city in the North Kalimantan province and within Indonesia.
In the drive to usher in more development, the government and businesses in Tarakan have worked together to improve internet penetration and digital literacy in the city. The outlook is positive, despite the pandemic; according to a 2021 East Ventures report on Digital Competitiveness Index in Indonesia, North Kalimantan ranks at 14 out of 34 provinces in Indonesia.
Yayan Nuryana, Rumah BUMN Telkom Tarakan enterprise, government and business manager, acknowledged that the ongoing pandemic had a devastating impact on the local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector.
“But, if we look on the bright side, this situation has forced many small businesses and individuals to adjust and get out of their comfort zone to try new things, including going digital to survive. As we have seen, businesses that have adapted themselves to the online platform have more resilience in facing the pandemic compared with businesses that are still offline. Therefore, going digital is one of the essential solutions to survive and gain more income opportunities and help the region's economy in this pandemic situation,” he said.
When digital platform Grab first entered Tarakan in 2017, it brought benefits for both businesses and consumers alike. Services such as GrabBike, GrabExpress, and GrabKios have opened up a slew of new opportunities for people in Tarakan, and the impact was immediate.
Tarakan Mayor Khairul noted that while the government continues to develop the infrastructure and facilities to help empower local entrepreneurs, they are unable to progress effectively without broader support, particularly from the private sector with digital platforms like Grab.
“With this kind of technology driving the digital economy, we are confident that we will see great progress, including more job opportunities and reduced poverty in rural areas including Tarakan,” he said.
By offering a platform that connects drivers and MSMEs with consumers, Grab offers new income opportunities for people in Tarakan who previously did not have access to the digital economy ecosystem. Within the first year, hundreds had signed up to be Grab driver-partners or merchant and agent partners.
Heirryah, a Tarakan local who desperately needed more flexible working hours, feels that being a Grab driver-partner provides more opportunities for her to take care of her family and has helped her community in terms of mobilization.
Before Heirryah became a Grab driver-partner in 2018, she was a sales associate at an automotive company in Tarakan. Even though the job was quite time-consuming for Heirryah as she juggled the many responsibilities of being a breadwinner, a mother, and a wife, she needed it to make ends meet.
"There weren't many opportunities for women to find flexible jobs, especially in a small city like Tarakan. Most people here do manual labor work, such as being a shrimp peeler, while some who are fortunate to have enough funds can buy motorcycles and work as ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers to pick up and drop off students at school. However, those aren’t jobs that come with a stable income, which I needed at that moment," she said.
Shortly after joining Grab, Heirryah said that she had no expectations and treated it as a side job at first.
“But, as time went by, I felt that Grab provided more opportunities for me, and I decided to resign from my previous job. Now, I can easily manage my various roles thanks to the flexibility of being a Grab driver-partner. Not only that, before the existence of Grab, I found it difficult to use public transportation because the Tarakan area had many alleys and roads that had ups and downs that were sometimes difficult to reach by vehicles without maps. Now, I can also contribute to my community by helping people reach their destinations more easily,” she added.
Meanwhile, new platforms come with other opportunities to become entrepreneurs in more than one area. Yusuf, 32, gained digital skills as a user of Kudo, the previous version of GrabKios in 2014. He started his small side business selling prepaid mobile credit through Kudo in Pasar Gusher, where he also worked at a grocery store. Now, he is also a Grab driver-partner and continues to offer GrabKios top-up balance services to fellow driver-partners.
"Drivers need to have certain amounts in their OVO Wallet to take orders and GrabKios is a convenient way to maintain the required balance. Around three to four fellow driver-partner friends would ask me to help them top up their OVO balance. So I received an additional daily income from this service while also teaching them to become familiar with the digital payment service as not many people in Tarakan know about or are accustomed to this kind of service," he said.
Kamal Sirojudin, a GrabKios customer in Tarakan, explained that he was greatly helped by the existence of digital financial services like this in the city.
“I once did a fundraiser for flood victims in Kalimantan, and a lot of them made transfers by using the GrabKios service because they did not have a bank account. This certainly makes it easier for us and also the wider community who want to help others.” he added.
According to the World Bank, domestic demand in Indonesia is still weaker than before the crisis at about 2.8 percent below its 2019 level as of September 2020. At the same time, these stories offer a glimpse into a brighter future for Tarakan and how digital technology plays a massive role in uplifting the lives of citizens and presenting new job opportunities, while also providing convenience for consumers.
Grab Indonesia director of East Indonesia Halim Wijaya emphasized the point that the benefits and impacts of the digital economy ecosystem should be felt by as many people as possible, including in Eastern Indonesia where digital development is crucial to economic turnover.
“Tarakan has a massive untouched potential that can be harnessed through the digital economy. Through our GrabForGood mission which emphasizes the use of technology for social impact, we want to build an inclusive platform that presents many new earning opportunities, and it is our commitment to creating long-term, positive change for people across Indonesia. We believe that by presenting a platform that can harness people’s opportunities, we can also create a ripple effect for the community to experience the digital economy ecosystem,” he concluded.
