Social entrepreneur and author Angkie Yudistia redefines success in her new book.

Her unique story began at 10 years old. She was like any other kid until she got malaria.  

The illness eventually led her to becoming permanently deaf as a result of the side effects of antibiotics.

Her life was turned upside down but that made her resilient.

Now at 32 years old, Angkie is an accomplished author and founder and CEO of a social enterprise that supports the employment of disabled people.

Angkie also released a book titled Become Rich As a Socio-preneur on July 5 to share her thoughts and experiences as a social entrepreneur.

In Angkie’s book, she explained that the title did not insinuate the common definition of the word “rich”.

Rather, Angkie explained how the wealth she valued the most in her decade-long journey as an entrepreneur were her experiences in helping others.

Angkie’s chapter as a social entrepreneur began in 2009 when she decided to help the disabled community. Having experienced bullying growing up, Angkie finally found a sense of belonging after connecting with other disabled people.

“In that community, I found my entrepreneurial spirit. It made me feel like I want to do something,” she said.

This entrepreneurial spirit and love for the disabled community is what has kept her social enterprise, Thisable, afloat for nine years.

Angkie Yudistia

Angkie’s enterprise began with humble beginnings. It started with only 15 staff members and a goal to provide free training to disabled people.

Now, Thisable has its own three-story office in Jakarta and more than 5,000 members in Jakarta, while its databases in other cities, such as Yogyakarta and Bandung, are still growing.

“Our office feels like a university now,” she said.

Despite the enterprise’s position, Angkie has not always had a smooth ride.

“It started out really lonely,” said Angkie, who dived into the market at a time when social enterprises were not yet on trend.

“I felt like I had no friends [in the business] to discuss things with.”

Angkie said that there times when she had considered quitting.  Funding was extremely difficult at a time when social enterprises were not yet “trendy”.

Nevertheless, she found her strength to carry on from her friends in the disabled community who continued to tell her they needed her, even during times when she had asked herself whether she could carry the trust and responsibilities on her shoulders.

“Through ups and downs, there were one or two friends of the community who truly believed in me, those who have been with Thisable from the beginning and are now trainers for the company,” Angkie said.

“One of them is married, one of them can now afford their own motorcycle.”

Angkie also participated in business coaching to learn new skills when she felt she was at her lowest point in developing Thisable.

She educated herself by taking part in overseas programs in Thailand, Paris, San Francisco and Washington, DC to learn as much as she could about disabilities, to the point where she “felt like she could breathe” and rest easy with the knowledge she had obtained.

“I have learned that [to succeed in business] I need to be consistent and smart in seizing opportunities and to have a strong mentality,” Angkie said.

“People used to say that social entrepreneurs won’t become rich. But there are many social entrepreneurs who choose to pursue this route because they want to do good for others, because other people’s happiness makes them happy. That itself is being rich.”

Angkie said times had changed in the world of social entrepreneurship.

The growth of social entrepreneurship in the last two or three years is evident through the growth of social start-ups. The publication of her book itself is another testimony to the growing interest in social work in the country,

“There are many books on how to be a successful entrepreneur or how to be rich, but there aren’t books on how to be rich in the soul and mind,” she said.

Previously, Angkie had written and published two books — Perempuan Tunga Rungu Menembus Batas (A Deaf Woman Without Limits) in 2011 and Setinggi Langit (As High As The Sky) in 2013.

Angkie’s accomplishments are more than enough to be defined as a success story but to her, material things do not define success.

“For me, to be successful is to accept ourselves for who we are, without condition, and thereby using that to create our own happiness,” she said.

Sharing is caring: Angkie Yudistia (right) during the launch of her latest book, Become Rich As a Socio-preneur.

— The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.

— Photos courtesy of Angkie Yudistia