Women Cultural Entrepreneurs Bring Color to Indonesia’s Heritage

UNESCO’s Actions to implement the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions contribute to fostering the creative economy worldwide.

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This is a web article series highlighting voices of UNESCO project beneficiaries.

UNESCO fosters creative entrepreneurship in Indonesia

Ash grey like the Buddha statues in every corner of Borobudur Temple. Lush green like the impenetrable rainforest of Borneo. Vibrant pink like the remote beaches of Komodo island. Shining golden like the spires of the Hindu temples in Bali. Faded black like the silhouettes of the puppet shadow plays of Java. Flaming red like the sambal sauce that gives a twist with its chili power. Creamy white like the coconut milk that enriches the dish. Indeed, Indonesia’s cultural expressions are characterized by color and flavor and there is no better testimony to such sensitive diversity than the batik embroidery that Indonesian crafters masterfully create. 

So what do a tour guide, a junior gastronomist and a tailoring business owner have in common? Besides representing this rich diversity of Indonesia, be it in cultural expression or arts professionals, they were all beneficiaries of UNESCO’s policies and programs resulting from three major UNESCO cultural conventions, namely the 2005 Convention for the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the 1972 Convention for World Heritage.

Indeed, thanks to the funding of the Government of Japan, UNESCO has partnered with Citi Foundation to promote youth entrepreneurship by providing means of livelihood to local communities in Indonesian heritage sites. Kita Muda Kreatif, as the program is named, has transformed human lives all over the Indonesian archipelago, from Bali and Lombok to the Prambanan Temples in Java and the Toba Lakes in Sumatra. 

 

The tour guide, the tailor and the gastronomist

Ceplon is an Indonesian tour guide ushering eager tourists through the jungle of age-old stone of Borobudur Temples, one of Indonesia’s most awe-inspiring World Heritage Sites. A single parent with one child, Ceplon benefits from the valuable tips and business management skills to develop her own brand and even expand to complementary business ventures like homestays and a café in her village. Yet, the pandemic struck this relentless entrepreneur hard, just like the rest of the tourism sector in Indonesia. Resolved to make an opportunity out of the crisis, she jumped into her greatest passion along with tour guides: herbal drinks (“wedang rempah”). 

Now, she is able to sell herbal medicines out of the plants in her local community, profiting from the heightened interest in traditional health products sparked by the pandemic. Happy with her two businesses, Ceplon recognizes:

If UNESCO had not come into my life, I would never have realized where my true ambition lay. Before I joined UNESCO Program, (…) I never dreamt of tour business or selling herbal drinks. To achieve my dreams I am always trying to find something new both for my tour business and for my wedang rempah, because I want to create a synergy between those two.

 

Anastasya Charles Angel Simaniuntak dreams of becoming a fashion designer owning a gallery and leading her employees. Like Ceplon, Anastasya has put to good use the invaluable knowledge she gained from UNESCO’s training in marketing, branding and even technically specific tailoring. The result: she was selected to show her fashion collection in the show “Ulos Extravaganza”, highlighting her creative take on Indonesia’s traditional weave named Ulos. Now her home-based tailoring business, called ACAS Mode, has proven resilient to the pandemic thanks to the growth in sales of its woven facemask line. 

Repa Kustipia has founded the Gastro-Tourism Academy with the pioneering optimism of her fresh twenties. A promising gastronomist, she has leveraged the online mentoring enabled by UNESCO in financial literacy, digital marketing, branding and business development to scale up her social business with international partners. Having secured some venture capital, she has raised to the next level the gastro-tourism routes she provides for tourists. Now her business reaches as far as Scotland, where she has partnered with a peer company; Germany, where she has provided consultancy services to a German sustainable tourism business; and even San Francisco, where she conducted a culinary session titled “Paleo Gastronomy Recipes from Indonesia” as part of an international symposium. She summarizes it quite illustratively this way:

I am still learning, but I can now confidently and proudly tell anybody that I am the CEO of this enterprise!

 

Multiplying spillovers: preservation of intangible heritage, cultural entrepreneurship, skills transfer and local community development

The impact of these UNESCO-enabled cultural businesses and start-ups resounds well beyond the founders themselves. Indeed, spillovers to local communities remain powerful. For instance, Ceplon acknowledges:

My novel herbal product company has allowed me to support the people of Karangrejo village, where I live.

 

More specifically, through the development of her business she engages communities living around her to contribute to her business. For example, she has four people to help her produce herbal drinks. For her tour business, the women, members of the Family Welfare Education (PKK in Indonesian), are taking part by providing meals and beverages for the tour meal packages, as well as her colleagues in tour business. She concludes gleefully that “I cannot thank UNESCO and Citi Foundation more!”

Likewise, Anastasya explains:

I have embraced the philosophy of the Ulos traditional textile, to the point that I am happy to contribute to the preservation of my community’s tradition through my fashion items.

 

Furthermore, the preservation of inheritable heritage like this, which has long been a key tenet in UNESCO’s impact upon the world, also ushered in the creation of a sectorial association, (KPT from its Indonesian name) that gathers more than 30 fashion tailors from the North Tapanuli region in Sumatra. Created by Anastasya and other inspiring entrepreneurs, this organization has provided not just a venue for cultural expression but also boosted income and employment opportunities for many.

Repa emphasizes the knowledge sharing along the whole project. For her, the key impact unleashed by UNESCO upon communities was how, she explains, she passed on the knowledge she received to others to enthusiastically promote peer learning:

This transformative impact helped me to grow my mindset on the cultural business, creative business and was disseminated to keep alive the knowledge gained.

Moreover, strong bonds were forged among the cultural entrepreneurs participating in UNESCO’s program. Ceplon highlights the easy access to the trainers as “I also feel that I have adequate relationship with our mentors since they are always ready for 24 hours when we need to discuss about my business development using all possible channels by phone or in person.” Repa details the extensive collaboration with other tourism enthusiasts, forging powerful synergies with some other businesses on the common theme of herbs and spices. She is now deepening the venues for collaboration with a food archaeologist that cooperated with her on the Food System Summit in 2021.

All in all, the future for these rising talents looks as bright as the sparks sputtered by the vermilion mouths of Indonesia’s volcanoes. Ceplon plans to ready her administrative and legal documentation to boost her tourist guide single-person business as well as network with the Ministry of Tourism. Anastasya will relentlessly work towards founding a fashion gallery where she could lead a team of tailors and designers. Repa will continue to distill Indonesia’s unique flavors in the preparations that she teaches to others in her gastronomy academy. With their enthusiasm and commitment duly channeled by UNESCO, these rising entrepreneurs will ensure that Indonesia’s priceless intangible heritage remains as colorful, flavorful, and unique as it has always been in the years to come.