Changing the world from Garut

Some people may doubt that profitable business can go along with the mission of tackling social problems. But Garut-origin Goris Mustaqim has proved otherwise.  

“In the practice of social entrepreneurship  we are making the efforts of overcoming social problems, while at the same time running a business. It is more than just a charity movement, it is a business entity. I believe it’s suitable for Indonesia, where poverty is not just a problem of economy, but also a cultural matter,” said Goris.

The 30-year-old civil engineer from Bandung Institute of Technology, who has discovered his passion for making a positive change in the grassroots level, lives and breathes his passion through a social enterprise Asgar Muda Foundation, he founded in 2007. The word ‘asgar’ is an abbreviation of  the Indonesian word ‘asal’ means origin, while Garut refer to a small town in West Java and ‘muda’ means young.

“The enterprise’s name itself is very ‘kampung’ reflecting its very core of purpose of developing the local potential in Garut,” said Goris.

Through his Asgar Foundation, Goris focuses in the works of education empowerment, entrepreneurship and micro-loan cooperative.   “Education is such a life-changing experience, that bring me to realization that it has a tremendous impact in changing one’s life,” he said.

Through a generous sponsorship from a geothermal company, Goris has been initiating study tutor classes (bimbel) for the past three years to  reach around 1000 students of senior high schools. The ‘bimbel’ operate cross subsidy, where students with healthy economy situation pays, while those from the lower economy families receive free classes, as well as study counselling, and certain amount of scholarships.  

In the entrepreneurship section, his foundation aims at providing wider opportunity for exhibition and product innovation for various small business people that include leather craftsmen  cattle farmers, and villagers of eco-tourism. “We have also assisted the initiator of the Cokodot in various exhibitions that eventually launched the product to become a true manifestation of the term ‘local going global’,” said Goris. Cokodot, which is a snack souvenir made of a combination of chocolate and Garut’s traditional delicacy ‘dodol’, has now become a well-known brand.   So far, the Asgar Muda Foundation has assisted in establishing 12 local entrepreneurs, 138 local farmers and 886 micro-finance debtor and partners.    

At the micro-finance sectors, community empowerment is being established through a  Syariah-based cooperative by the name BMT One (Baitul Mal wat Tamwil) that financially assist vendors at traditional markets as well as farmers to obtain start-up capital for sustaining their small businesses. The cooperative provides various credit ceiling, from Rp 1 million up to Rp 40 million for those displaying improved paying-back performance.

Through the cooperative, farmers also obtain seed and fertilizer assistance, while at the same time they are taught to invest by planting various trees like tobacco, jabon, sengon, alba, etc, that can be harvested in the future. “Currently, there are around 15 hectares. When harvest time arrive, these farmers would receive the largest portion of the revenue, up to 70 percent. In the way, farmers will be able to pay their children’s education and even go for hajj pilgrimage.

“Basically, we are trying to teach them the value of delaying instant pleasure for future betterment,” he said. 

Speaking to hundreds of candidate recipients of LPDP scholarship on Wednesday, Goris urged more educated Indonesians to take part in empowering those who come from economically disadvantaged background.

“Among others, poverty is caused by unequal opportunities. More people are needed to involve in community empowerment activities,” underlined Goris, as he cited a wise-words of Mahatma Gandhi, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’