Those Who Turn Problems into Business Opportunities

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

General Manager of PLN Main Distribution Unit (UID) Greater Jakarta, Doddy B Pangaribuan (left) with Director of PT Bike For Indonesia, Iki Sari Dewi, at the launch of the collaboration between PT PLN (Persero) and PT Grab Indonesia in Jakarta, Wednesday (6/4/ 2022).

It all began with Kevin Phang's frustration when fighting over a power plug with fellow-apartment residents while studying in Beijing several years ago. Due to this frustration, he came up with an idea to make electric-motorcycle battery charging more practical. He then established a motorcycle-battery-swapping business so that motorcycle owners would not need to spend a long time charging their batteries.

“When I arrived at the apartment, I immediately looked for the free electric plug provided to charge the electric-motorcycle battery. However, another occupant who arrived later removed the plug and used it for his motorcycle. As the result, my motorcycle battery was not fully charged when it was used again,” said Kevin, the co-founder of Smooth Motor Indonesia, in Jakarta, on Friday (5/8/2022), recalling his experience using electric motorcycles in China at that time.

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In 2019, Kevin met Irwan Tjahaja, who is now the founder of Smooth Motor Indonesia. From that meeting, they agreed to make electric-motorcycle-battery charging easier, faster and more practical. Their aim was not accomplished by a faster charging system, but by swapping a depleted battery with a fully charged battery.

“Electric motorbikes are not so popular because people are worried that when the battery is depleted, it will take hours to charge it. Well, we are looking for a solution to this problem by increasing the number of electric-motorcycle battery-swapping stations. No need to charge it, just exchange it; it only takes nine seconds,” said Kevin.

In August 2021, several types of electric motorcycles made by Smooth entered the market. To make it easier for customers, there are currently 300 battery-swapping stations in Jakarta, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi. This year, according to Kevin, the company will open 1,000 battery-swapping stations in several big cities in Indonesia, of which 700-800 stations will be located in Jakarta, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.

The garment and culinary businesses that he manages produce plastic waste and used-cooking oil.

A similar story was unveiled by Chris Longdong, founder of Waus Energy, a biosynthetic-fuel start-up. The idea of developing biosynthetic fuels came up due to the problems he faced. The garment and culinary businesses that he manages produce plastic waste and used-cooking oil.

“The culinary business, established in 2016, served fried tofu, bananas and chicken. I did not reuse cooking oil because it affected the quality of the food. At first, the used-cooking oil was taken by employees, but the practice was gradually stopped as it was dangerous for their health,” said Chris.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

PT PLN (Persero) and PT Grab Indonesia are working to develop infrastructure for public electric vehicle battery exchange stations in Jakarta, Wednesday (6/4/2022).

The amount of used-cooking oil could amount to 5 liters per day. In a month, it could amount to 150 liters. Throwing it into sewers creates new problems. Then Chris remembered his parents using used-cooking oil to turn on the lighting in the garden. That is where the idea of processing used-cooking oil into fuel for kerosene stoves first appeared.

Chris used a mixture of shredded used plastic and cooking oil. The thick used-cooking oil must be diluted so that it can be used as fuel; it worked. He uses a stove fueled by used-cooking oil mixed with shredded plastic to cook semi-finished food ingredients. Meanwhile, to cook the finished food, Chris uses an LPG stove.

"I can save up to Rp 8 million (US$535) in fuel expenses per month," said Chris.

Private support

Businesses in the clean-energy sector or energy efficiency, which are mostly run by a number of start-ups, are generally supported and assisted by institutions that fund and assist the start-up business processes. Swap Energi Indonesia, a company that offers an electric-vehicle battery-swap service, is one of the start-ups that has received assistance from New Energy Nexus Indonesia.

Some of these start-ups have been able to raise commercial loans.

New Energy Nexus Indonesia’s program-director, Diyanto Imam, said New Energy Nexus had a vision and mission to help start-ups in the clean-energy sector. Since 2019, the company has helped as many as 69 start-ups in the clean-energy sector in Indonesia through incubation or business-acceleration programs. Some of these start-ups have been able to raise commercial loans.

Technological innovations or business models that can emerge during the energy-transition process are vast. According to Diyanto, clean-energy start-ups can be involved in businesses related to batteries, battery storage, solar panels, energy management, energy efficiency and internet-connected objects (IoT).

“The technology solutions they offer can range from hardware to software. Because of this wide range of innovations, clean-energy start-ups have great growth opportunities,” he said.

Waus Energy also received a grant through the IN-Connect by KUMPUL event program in 2021. At the event, Waus Energy was matched with the Medco Foundation. Waus Energy then received a grant to build a semi-industrial-scale Waus Syntetic reactor engine. Chris acknowledged that he worked hard to convince the Medco Foundation that used-cooking oil could actually be processed and reused as fuel for stove fuel.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

PT PLN (Persero) and PT Grab Indonesia are working to develop infrastructure for public electric vehicle battery exchange stations in Jakarta, Wednesday (6/4/2022).

According to the executive director of the Cerah Indonesia Foundation, Adhityani Putri, there is a lot of interest from private companies or non-profit organizations in financing start-ups in the clean-energy sector.

As a civil-society organization, Yayasan Indonesia Cerah shares a common vision with start-ups in the clean-energy sector: social welfare can only be achieved via a healthy environment. "A green economy is a prerequisite," she said.

To help encourage the development of a green economy in Indonesia, added Putri, Yayasan Indonesia Cerah helps in three ways: by directly supporting start-up promotion activities to the public, becoming a user of the technology solution or start-up service and helping start-ups remove policies or regulations that hinder them.

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi)