SOUTH SUMATRA — Starting from anxiety and empathy for the dependency of Banyuasin regional educational facilities, Mustopa Patapa, one of the alumni of Bakti Nusa 2 Human Development Institute (LPI) Dompet Dhuafa moved to build a social enterprise-based company KULAKU Indonesia.
By developing the Banyuasin area’s potential through coconut commodities, KULAKU Indonesia has succeeded in increasing the income of coconut farmers and the future of coconut farmer children by providing scholarships for Junior High School (SMP) to Higher Education.
The founder and CEO of KULAKU Indonesia explained that this social enterprise-based company was built from scratch and has gone through ups and downs in its journey. The lack of income for coconut farmers and the difficulty of education for the children of farming families in Banyuasin Regency, South Sumatra, became the background for establishing KULAKU Indonesia.
Baca juga: ETOS ID dan BAKTI NUSA, Dua Beasiswa Dompet Dhuafa untuk Mahasiswa
The company, which is in Palembang, has programs aimed at educating coconut farmers. Through collaboration with various relevant stakeholders, these programs focus on empowering and mentoring coconut farmers as well as educational scholarships for coconut farmer children from junior high school to college. Currently, 20 farmer children have become beneficiaries of KULAKU Indonesia.
“Dreaming big must be accompanied by a target. Plan, do it and evaluate basics for entrepreneurs. Hopefully, the existence of KULAKU Indonesia can be a means of raising others, especially Banyuasin coconut farmer families,” said Mustopa Patapa at the Walk The Talk #3: “Learn, Action, Impact” event, organized by the Human Development Institute (LPI) Dompet Dhuafa, Saturday (20/5/2023).
Empowerment and mentoring must aim to educate coconut farmers to eliminate difficulties in the company’s development process. All efforts have been made by Mustopa and Banyuasin young people to improve the standard of living of Banyuasin coconut farmers. They believe the KULAKU Team’s efforts in changing the value of products to make them more economically valuable rather than just being sold as coconut commodities.
Baca juga: Dompet Dhuafa Sumsel Gelar Wisuda Program Beasiswa GenZAKAT
KULAKU finally got a cooperation space and established four production sites in Banyuasin. Coconut derivative products from coconut farmers are VCO, CCO, Nata De Coco and charcoal. The product now has a national market and can be enjoyed in Palembang, Jakarta, Padang, and Jambi.
The projected expansion of KULAKU product marketing will be carried out in 2023 to target international markets such as Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Nigeria. Even in 2024, KULAKU targets marketing Banyuasin farmers’ coconut derivative products (including coconut husk that is still being developed) to the European market.
“Product development and farmer empowerment must align with the company’s vision and mission. We are a social enterprise company. So, the main benchmark for developing companies is the increasing welfare of coconut farmers assisted by KULAKU,” said the alumni of Bakti Nusa Palembang.
KULAKU has harvested various achievements in various sectors, one of which is increasingly known after becoming Indonesia’s representative at Dubai Expo 2020 with the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs of the Republic of Indonesia. KULAKU also received awards from local governments to international bodies such as UNDP and Youth Co: Lab Asia and Pacific Summit and was lined up to be Indonesia’s representative at the 2022 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Dompet Dhuafa, through the Nusantara Activist Scholarship (Bakti Nusa) program, continues to encourage millennial generations to participate in generating creative ideas in building businesses by developing potential in their regions based on social enterprise. In addition to Mustopa, there are still many successes from Bakti Nusa Dompet Dhuafa alums that should be appreciated and followed. (Dompet Dhuafa/Muthohar)