Friday, March 29, 2024 | 14:39 WIB

Avrist Warrior Woman, bridging the emergence of Indonesia’s female leaders

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IO, Jakarta – Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik – “BPS”) data reports that Indonesia’s poverty rate per March 2019 was 9.4%, equal to 25.14 million citizens. Most vulnerable are women, the elderly, children and the disabled. Poverty is the result of unemployment, due to lack of skills and capabilities.

This reality is even grimmer for the disabled, because only 1.2% of disabled workers are employed in formal sectors. Therefore, the Ministry of Labor suggests that productive age disabled persons be provided with training according to their talents and interests.

Due to this circumstance and in full awareness of the importance of empowering the people’s economy, in order to allow Indonesia to achieve its fullest potential, PT Avrist Assurance (Avrist Assurance) is hosting the Avrist Warrior Woman program to encourage equality and access to entre­preneurial skills among Indonesian women, which would help them develop their personal potential and enjoy better welfare.

This women empowerment program focuses on providing entrepreneurial skill training that would allow beneficiaries to develop their own micro businesses. In that way, they can become financially independent women who contribute greatly to the overall welfare of their families. This program is an authentic expression of Avrist Assurance’s concern towards female empowerment, as well as the Company’s commitment to help Indonesian women drive our economy and support themselves at the same time.

PT Avrist Assurance President Director Anna Leonita introduced this initiative thus: “As an insurance company with over 40 years of experience, we are aware that protection is not just from insurance. Instead, it can be present as access to education, capital, and business opportunities. We have a vision wherein the Avrist Warrior Woman can establish a strong social network and contribute to national movement by bridging the emergence of female leaders who can contribute both to the welfare of their families and develop Indonesia’s economy” she said.

PT Avrist Assurance realizes this program in partnership with International Women’s Federation of Commerce and Industry (IWFCI) Indonesia and the Visi Maha Karya Foundation. IWFCI is a global non-profit organization with a vision of developing women’s business capabilities and competitiveness worldwide, allowing them to have equal opportunity in economic growth. The Visi Maha Karya Foundation is a non-profit organization mainly focused on empowering impoverished physically disabled communities, and on providing education for orphaned and poor children.

Marisa Ardani, IWFCI Indonesia’s General Secretary, explained that the Avrist Warrior Woman CSR Program has the vision of empowering Indonesian women through entrepreneurship. “Therefore, we take the role as facilitator in designing an entrepreneurship training CSR program. We also design a grant capitalization scheme for participants. We have been drafting the right workshop curriculum with our select mentors and trainers, focusing on basic accounting, marketing, and utilization of technology,” she said. “Our beneficiaries will also receive lectures on female health, anti-violence, female empowerment, sanitation, and good parenting.”

Arief Adinoto, a Mentor from the Visi Maha Karya Foundation, added that the Foundation has selected 20 participants. “As a non-profit foundation focusing on empowering impoverished physically disabled communities, we see this program as an excellent effort that helps the productive age members of society who generally do not have the opportunity to prove their competitiveness in gaining their livelihood,” he said.

The first Avrist Warrior Woman Program will be held for 3 months, starting in September 2019. By October, participants must be able to present their business plans to their mentors and guides. Afterwards, a total of IDR 80,000,000.00 will be granted to 20 beneficiaries as capital to start their own micro businesses. Furthermore, Avrist, IWFCI, and Visi Maha Karya will continue to mentor the participants when they run their businesses, in order to ensure that these businesses can be sustained over the long term.

Ernest Febrianto, PT Avrist Assurance’s Head of Corporate Marketing Communications, hopes that by the end of the program, Avrist Warrior Woman can generate 20 productive and financially-independent women who own micro businesses. This will help generate new job opportunities among their local communities. “We set this program in order to ensure its continuity in the upcoming years. Therefore, we can reach and assist more and more Indonesian women so that they become financially independent and can serve as leaders for driving the people’s economy,” he said.

This year, Avrist Assurance will aggressively hold a number of CSR programs to show its commitment towards its social responsibility, as well as to provide meaningful and sustainable contribution towards impoverished communities. “We have the vision to gradually implement Avrist Warrior Woman in other regions in Indonesia, so that more and more Indonesian women will obtain access to entrepreneurship education and training. This would allow them to improve their welfare. We believe that women have an important role to play in building Indonesia’s potential for the better, both in terms of economic and social conditions,” Anna said.

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