Passing the Mic to Yohanes Sugihtononugroho: Empowerment from Empathy
Who is Yohanes Sugihtononugroho and what is Crowde?
CEO of Crowde, Yohanes Sugihtononugroho co-founded the financial application company that focuses on agricultural business.
Since its launch in 2015, Crowde has provided capital assistance to over 14,000 farmers through crowd-funding from 20,000 investors including Bank Mandiri, with a total transaction of US$3.5 M.
Today, Crowde has gained more than 28 employees with an annual profit of IDR 60 million to IDR 200 million! Yohanes’ success in building Crowde eventually brought him to the Forbes list of 30 under 30 Asia in 2018.
Where did he start?
- Solution Oriented
Yohanes became aware of the plight of farmers when a Kuliah Kerja Nyata (KKN) activity required his team to help improve the livelihood of a farmer in West Java. He helped the farmer start a mushroom cultivation, purchase supplies and find buyers – which resulted in an improvement in her economic conditions. Witnessing the experience and knowing how farmers sell crops at low prices, Yohanes grew concerned for farmers in Indonesia.
- Self Aware
Upon completing his studies, Yohanes dove into the agriculture business and established a chicken farming business which had great potential. Unfortunately, his business failed when the price of chicken fell drastically. This however did not prevent Yohanes from backing down as he had confidence in both himself and his passion for agriculture.
- World Citizen & Empowering Others
Moving on, Yohanes spent three months traveling from one village to another to learn about the conditions of local farmers. He then found out that the majority of farmers were in debt and lacked knowledge about agricultural technology and funding. Yohanes became even more determined as he learned more about their struggles and in 2015, Crowde was founded – making a difference through empowering farmers all over Indonesia.
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