Noice and Pasarnow Practitioners Reveal The Role of Women in Opening Opportunities in The Startup Ecosystem

The atmosphere of the STARPODS event discussion. 

Chief Business Officer of Noice, Niken Sasmaya, and Co-Founder and Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer of Pasarnow, Cindy Ozzie, revealed the role of women in opening up opportunities for other women to pursue a career in the startup ecosystem. 

They shared this information in the STARPODS event “Can Women-Led Startups Exceed to the Top?” on Tuesday (28/03/2023). STARPODS is a podcast created by Skystar Ventures UMN that invites various startup practitioners to share their knowledge with startup enthusiasts. 

According to Niken, it is essential for current female startup leaders to help other women develop their businesses. 

“In fact, in my opinion, for people who already have privileges in that position, especially if they are female, they need to help the other females to grow,” Niken said.

“The fact that there are still a small number of female founders compared to male founders in Indonesia, actually opens up new opportunities for female founders who are already in that position to bring other female leaders to the same position,” she continued.

As reported by the Lowy Institute, most startup founders in the tech sector are men. Not only that, only 23 percent of venture capital companies in Southeast Asia give women a role as decision-makers in investing. 

Seeing this condition, Niken highlighted the importance of women who are already at the C-level bench to be able to help other women reach the same position. 

“So actually, the focus should be more directed to a position where you or we can create opportunities for other women. Take that opportunity. Because if not, we will never be able to see a balanced number of males and females (in the industry),” she said. 

Meanwhile, Cindy believes it is vital for women to be able to turn the stereotypes that exist in themselves into strengths to continue developing their startups. 

“We have extraordinary empathy, and because of that, we can create win-win solutions instead of win-lose. Instead of using the stereotype that women are seen as weak, we can turn it into our strength,” she said. 

Not only providing various views on the role of women in the startup world, Niken and Cindy also touched on some of the challenges they experienced as female practitioners in the startup ecosystem.

The two speakers of STARPODS presenting their opinions.

Experiencing Double Standards in Indonesia

“The challenges for female leaders and female founders in Indonesia obviously exist. Not gonna lie, there are still a lot of double standards that I experience in this industry, and maybe other friends also experience,” said Niken. 

She then shared, “When I moved to Jakarta, unfortunately I had to deal with this. So there are indeed some [situations] in senses where I feel like when I am the only female in the table, I have to really work extra hard just to get noticed.”

In contrast to Niken, who had experienced double standards, Cindy talked about her experience working in an industry usually labeled as a male domain.

“My industry is not for women; it’s usually done by men. Heavy on distribution, operations, and so on. There might be a stereotype that women don’t really, like we don’t really do this [technology and agriculture industry],” Cindy said.

Even so, Cindy said she received a lot of praise from many parties, including from women, when she succeeded in running a business in an industry with a stigma of being “usually done by men.”

Patriarchal System in Indonesia

In addition, Cindy also briefly mentioned the patriarchal culture that Indonesia still adheres to, which makes women have many restrictions.

“What’s a bit difficult is, actually, in Indonesia or maybe some parts of the world, we still hold a very strong patriarchal system, where we give the doctrine that ‘you as a woman you can’t be this, but you as a man you can be anything,’” Cindy said. 

“And this, in my company, I don’t really promote that. But instead I want to go, explore, go do your thing, go, be happy, travel the world if you can, do that. Because this doctrine is actually something we haven’t gotten from our parents or our environment, so by promoting that women can be whatever we want, it’s no less important,” she continued.

Niken and Cindy’s Message for Women 

Closing the STARPODS session, Niken told women to keep trying to achieve their desires. 

“Keep going. You’re on the right track. Self doubts definitely exist, but as long as we keep trying and keep enriching our knowledge and experience, we’re gonna get there. Pat yourself on the back yourself, don’t be too harsh at the same time, and continue to have fun in the process,” said Niken.

Meanwhile, Cindy advised women to remain steadfast in having high dreams, even though it might make them be labeled as different from other women. 

By Skystar Ventures

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

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