Homegrown on-demand app Gojek, hailed by global media organization Fortune as one of the companies that has changed the world by addressing social challenges through its core business activities, is assisting Indonesia’s local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to thrive and grow using its digital wallet GoPay.
Thanks to its e-wallet GoPay, tech company Gojek has been featured on Fortune’s Change the World list, ranked number 11 out of 52 international companies. The tech company has helped accelerate financial inclusivity and the digital economy in Indonesia.
GoPay, moreover, provides access to loans for roughly 130,000 micro merchants, as quoted from the official statement from Fortune.
The list assesses organizations using four criteria: measurable social influence, business results, a degree of innovation and its corporate integration.
Since the government launched the National Non-Cash Movement in 2014, Indonesia has sought to raise public awareness on non-cash payment instruments, which are deemed to be more convenient, secure and efficient.
A cashless society has numerous benefits, such as enhancing remote access to payments, reducing wait times in queue lines and making transactions traceable and transparent. That will curb corruption and lead to better corporate governance.
The digital footprints will discourage people from making illegal transactions. In addition, the government has highlighted how technology can bring more accurate and more transparent reports and reduce the risks of corruption.
"Because now is the era of noncash transactions, people are no longer carrying a briefcase full of money. As soon as you transfer money, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center can easily check it," said Yanuar Nugroho, the deputy chief of staff for Analysis and Oversight of Strategic Issues on Social, Cultural and Ecological Affairs at the Executive Office of the President, as reported by VOA Indonesia earlier this year.
GoPay, a digital payment platform from Gojek, has enabled financial access to millions of Indonesians, including the 64 percent of Indonesians who are unbanked, and has developed the digital economy in the country by engaging Gojek customers to use technologies in business transactions.
GoPay has involved many small business partners to use digital transactions for their day-to-day operations. About half of the transactions in the Gojek app are done with GoPay, said GoPay CEO Aldi Haryopratomo, as reported by SWA.co.id last year.
GoPay helps street vendors and small warung (food stall) owners in densely populated areas sell their food and beverages using the e-wallet’s QR Code, helping their customers complete their transactions digitally.
GoPay has always focused on involving grassroots communities. Since its launch in 2016, GoPay’s reach has developed rapidly. Currently, GoPay is the biggest digital payment platform in Indonesia, and 90 percent of its merchants are small merchants.
When it was launched in 2016, GoPay simply helped Gojek drivers complete their transactions more conveniently using a cashless method. Now, GoPay has been used among drivers and merchants alike to access subsidized housing credits, education savings plans, health insurance plans and haj pilgrim savings plans.
“We don’t measure our success solely on the amount of our transaction, but [in] how we create the positive effects at the grassroots levels globally,” Aldi said.
GoPay believes that by making formal finance services accessible to more people, GoPay grows simultaneously with its various business partners, such as banks, restaurants, retail stores, among others, resulting in mutually beneficial business partnerships. In a sense, GoPay aims at helping and building a positive ecosystem with its partners.
It is no different from the ecosystems of coral reefs, as Aldi put it. A big fish population will sustain the lives of more coral reefs there and vice versa; together they create a more vibrant ecosystem.
“It means the more partners we have, the more lives we can support and help,” Aldi said. As Gojek’s business grows bigger, it has a greater ability to help those around it.
In 2017, GoPay was named the most proactive fintech company in supporting the National Non-Cash Movement.
Also in 2017, Gojek was featured on the same Fortune Change the World list, ranked at 17 out of 56 companies.
This year’s achievement makes Gojek the only company from Southeast Asia that has twice appeared on Fortune’s annual list.
“We’re proud to receive the award, which marks our vision and mission to solve daily hassles and empower more people to use various technology platforms,” said Gojek founder and CEO Nadiem Makarim. “Thank you for the complete support from all drivers, merchants, customers, business partners, the government and our investors.”
Nadiem also highlighted that Gojek, as a super app, had reshaped how people, goods and money moved in the modern age.
With GoPay, the homegrown app is committed to enabling financial access to all Indonesians, especially MSMEs.
