Kurnia Permasari
IPMI International Business School
Amelia Naim Indrajaya
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Strengthening and enlarging the benefit of existing waste bank.
A new business model implemented on the basis of profit, people, and planet.
Creating a profitable business as well as solving community problems.
Community movement.
Building civilization.
Salam Rancage was established in 2012. It is a small-medium enterprise that produces premium crafts from reusable newspaper (newspaper is called koran in Indonesia). Salam Rancage converts reusable newspaper into various premium, valuable crafts such as a book cover, bag, vase, mat, kleenex box, slipper, multipurpose container, laundry basket, etc.
The existence of Salam Rancage cannot be separated from Sekolah Alam Bogor. It is a school that has the concept of coherence with nature. For people and families in Indonesia, is not habitual to manage and sort their waste. All the waste is simply collected into waste plastic before it is taken by garbage workers. Sekolah Alam Bogor introduced the waste bank concept to students and their families. The school wants to raise student and family awareness about the importance of a healthy, neat and clean environment. Students and their families are trained and encouraged to sort organic and inorganic waste. Organic waste is sorted into leftovers and leaves. Inorganic waste is sorted into several categories: plastic, paper, styrofoam, tin, metal, rubber, and glass.
Sekolah Alam Bogor established a waste bank. It is the place where people collect the garbage that has been sorted. The goal is to help deal with waste in Indonesia. The students bring leaf organic waste and inorganic waste to the school waste bank. The waste is then weighted, and the students receive compensation for the collection of the waste in the form of a savings account. The school processes the leaves into compost. The inorganic waste is then processed into different products or distributed and sold to the collectors and waste processing plant.
Aling Nur Naruli, the founder of Salam Rancage, spent two years of experiments to process waste from the Sekolah Alam Bogor waste bank into something more useful to society, for example, handicrafts. She found that reusable newspaper is the most valuable waste that can be processed into high-value products. Furthermore, she wanted to enlarge the benefit of the waste bank by creating new initiatives she called virtue initiatives. It was Salam Rancage.
Salam Rancage activities started in Tanah Baru, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. Mrs. Aling conducted surveys of the people surrounding her house. She focused on woman. She came to them and offered a program that would be conducted together.
“Women here had a lot of problems such as family low income, low quality of life, low education background, unfair treatment from society, cultural perceptions of unemployed women, domestic violence, and so on. It is very contra with the nature of women itself. Women are born as formidable creatures. Women are created with gentleness, strength, and endurance. Women are not the source of problems. They are the problem solvers. I want to share my values about women to the community through Salam Rancage.” Mrs. Aling explained her beliefs.
Mrs. Aling met women in a lot of villages. Villages in Indonesia are known as kampung. She established a waste bank that focused on the collection of reusable newspapers (koran). This waste bank was then called a koran bank, and the village was then known as Kampung Koran. All the villagers were invited to participate in managing and sorting family waste in a responsible way. Families sent the reusable newspaper to the Koran Bank. They received compensation in the form of a savings account that can be used anytime they need money. Reusable newspaper itself become the source of raw material that will be processed by Salam Rancage.
Salam Rancage also invited women in Kampung Koran to join Salam Rancage. Kampung Koran has many groups of women as the members of Salam Rancage community. Each group consists of five to six people. They are artisans with different kinds of skills, jobs, and roles in their group. These groups are the production line of the Salam Rancage business.
Salam Rancage is a social professional business. The business only survives and can be sustained with active participation of the community. Salam Rancage has two sides of entrepreneurship: the business aspect and social responsibility aspect. The profitability of the business must be strong to make sure that the social goals can be achieved continuously.
“The real entrepreneur is the problem solver, not a money hunter. What the better from a kindness is a kindness spreading benefit.” Mrs. Aling continued her explanation.
Salam Rancage is a business full of inspiration. Changing people’s mindsets is not an instant process like building a sandcastle. It takes time, consistency and several processes. Mrs. Aling designed her programs structurally and standardly according to the needs of the community. She created various individual capacity-building programs, for example, leadership, organization, and financial planning trainings.
Mrs. Aling meets the members every Saturday. She spends time with them to share motivation and experience, train them about craftmanship and conduct other administrative matters. She encourages the members to have a diary. Saturday meetings also become events for the members to share what they write in their diaries. Mrs. Aling sees that writing in a diary is a way to release stress and at the same time improve writing and communication skills. It is really seen in each meeting how the community increases their capacity. Mrs. Aling doesn’t lead the meeting. It is a member of the group who leads the meeting alternately every week. The members themselves arrange the schedule of meeting leaders.
It takes 40 sessions of training to become a weaver. This means 40 weeks of Saturday trainings. It is not an easy journey for either Mrs. Aling or the woman. The 40 weeks prove their endurance, motivation, and acceptance to the programs. Does it take 40 weeks for the member to earn money? Of course not. Before becoming a weaver, they may participate as a folder. Each group has a leader, folders, and weavers.
As Salam Rancage receives orders from clients, Mrs. Aling and the groups discuss production targets to meet the demand. Production targets will be distributed to the groups according to the capacity and availability of the members. All the members will be involved actively in making products. They will receive payment based on the quality and quantity of products they make in the form of savings accounts that they can withdraw from anytime they need money.
It is a new business model implemented on the basis of profit, people, and planet. Salam Rancage increases peoples' awareness of environmental issues while at the same time solving community problems on employment as well as improving quality of life. The Salam Rancage business runs with low investment and low operating costs as the business wisely exploits community resources in creating the value of the products.
Salam Rancage has been spreading the benefits for more than four years. Four years is truly a struggle and battle period. Salam Rancage has been very good at strengthening its positioning in the Indonesian green craft market. Every year, Salam Rancage issues new designs. Salam Rancage invites many young Indonesian designers to contribute in the movements. Salam Rancage also actively joins Indonesian premium craft expos. Salam Rancage is now on the way to achieving an annual five hundred million rupiah market share.
Salam Rancage also has a partnership with Kompas Gramedia to open new Kampung Koran communities in Jakarta. This partnership opens larger opportunities for Salam Rancage to share its values and benefits.
The Indonesian market is very wide. But for craft, appreciation from the mass market is still weak. Export is a new target for 2017. Having an export portfolio will strengthen Salam Rancage’s position in the domestic market. Salam Rancage also has opened an American market. The first export container was delivered in January 2017. The product was received by the customer in perfect condition. One target has been achieved. Mrs. Aling and her team are now putting their focus on entering Canada as the gateway to Europe’s market.
The biggest challenge, according to Mrs. Aling, is to sustain her business for the benefit of the members. Marketing strategy plays an important role for the business. She still continues her efforts to grasp larger and sustain market share both in Indonesia and worldwide.
Salam Rancage is a community movement. The main actor is the community itself. It is a long process for Mrs. Aling and her team to build the business and the community together. Salam Rancage wants to make a real contribution to building civilization. Salam Rancage wants to improve the capacity of the members by increasing their knowledge, self-confidence, and self-awareness, improving leadership skills of the members and encouraging them to become individuals who give benefits for their families and society.
Women are the real heroes for their families. Women are able to take a lot of roles as wives and mothers. While nurturing and without leaving their children at home, women should be able to have activities that earn money.
Different from other business, at Salam Rancage, the salary of the members is defined as 20% of the product price. The higher the product price, the higher salary received by the members. Salam Rancage wants to position their product as a high-quality product that is appreciated by the customers.
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