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From barista to designer, new wave services gaining momentum
When Reza Adam Ferdian, 36, decided to give up a prestigious engineering job at Indonesia’s largest state-owned energy company to open a small coffee shop, he faced disapproval from his parents. However, attitudes over certain jobs are now changing.
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Young people take part in a Barista certification event held by the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) at Esperto Barista Course, West Jakarta, on, Aug. 7.
(JP/Donny Fernando)
(JP/Donny Fernando)
W
hen Reza Adam Ferdian, 36, decided to give up a prestigious engineering job at Indonesia’s largest state-owned energy company to open a small coffee shop, he faced disapproval from his parents.
“I was questioned by my parents: What does this mean? I enjoyed a higher education. A good job. But when I resigned, I opened a coffee shop. My parents only thought of baristas as coffee stirrers,” quipped Reza, now a certified barista examiner who assesses Indonesian baristas for certifications that can be used to work overseas.
Plenty of Indonesian baristas he has assessed now work abroad, mostly at coffee shops in the Middle East and Australia. Meanwhile Reza, who returned to work at the energy company late last year, continues running the coffee shop, KopiSob, with his wife, serving local manual brew coffee from Aceh’s Gayo to Papua’s Amungme.
Reza’s work in the service sector revolves around the promising and burgeoning export sector for Indonesia.
Already accounting for 54 percent of Indonesia’s GDP in 2018, the service sector of Southeast Asia’s largest economy is now US$567 billion in size in terms of economic activity, according to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS).
With President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s focus on human capital development, policymakers are now focusing on upgrading the skills of Indonesians who can improve the country’s services export performance. Such change has come partly due to the trade balance having been severely hit by weak demand against the backdrop of a global economic slowdown, putting pressure on the current account deficit.
