R

oni Rianto, a college student in Palembang, South Sumatra, is proud to be able to earn a living from his oyster mushroom cultivation business, which he started with friends three months ago.

With his friends, Roni has encouraged 20 other youths to join the new promising business, giving new hope to other residents in Sungai Lilin village, Sungai Lilin district, Musi Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra.

Roni and his six friends developed the small business after winning a scholarship from energy company ConocoPhilips Indonesia, which challenged them to start a business in their neighborhood.

'€œOyster mushroom cultivation is quite easy and the demand for the mushrooms is high, so we decided to submit a proposal to start the business,'€ he said recently.

The student of Raden Fatah State Islamic Institute (IAIN) received cash assistance of Rp 500,000 (about US$43) from the company'€™s social entrepreneurship program. With a total Rp 3.5 million in their hands, they learned to cultivate the business from scratch.

'€œWe are grateful that members of the community, especially the village youth, are enthusiastic about taking part in cultivating oyster mushrooms. They are happy because this provides an opportunity to earn additional income,'€ Suci Aprilia, another scholarship awardee, said.

She said most of the village youth who joined their oyster mushroom business were senior high school graduates who could not afford tertiary education. People in the district mostly earn a living as rubber tappers and oil palm farmers. The declining price of rubber in the market, however, has negatively affected their livelihoods, leaving them with limited job options.

Every day, Roni'€™s group can harvest up to 3 kilograms (kg) of mushrooms, which are priced at Rp 17,000 per kg in the market, giving them a gross profit of Rp 1,530,000 monthly.

'€œThe amount is reasonable as an additional income for residents who are currently facing economic hardships,'€ Roni said.

They also produce mushroom chips and crackers to be sold in supermarkets in the city. Roni said demand for mushroom chips was so high that they sometimes got overwhelmed with the orders.

Meanwhile, another scholarship recipient is a group of housewives in Jambi that has started a waste recycling project in which garbage is turned into marketable goods.

A third recipient developed fresh water fish farming, which had not been fully developed in South Sumatra despite high demand.

ConocoPhilips Indonesia'€™s vice president of development and relations affairs Joang Laksanto said the social entrepreneurship program had been held since 2011. It targeted locals living around the company'€™s mining areas in Jambi and South Sumatra.

'€œWe hope the youth groups create a domino effect for the community and are able to help improve people'€™s welfare,'€ said Joang.