Google for Indonesia 2020 Focuses on Recovery from the Impact of the Pandemic

Google for Indonesia 2020 which was just held today (18/11) is a bit different from similar events in previous years. Google still made a number of important announcements at this event, only the majority of those announcements focused on solutions to deal with the impact of the pandemic.

The first is related to the disbursement of funds worth $10 million or the equivalent of 141 billion Rupiah as a capital loan from Google for small, micro and small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia. Google collaborated with Kiva, a global non-profit organization engaged in the financial inclusion sector, in this program. In addition to capital loans, Google also donated $1 million or the equivalent of 14 billion Rupiah to reduce unemployment among young Indonesians.

"With support from Google.org philanthropy, Plan International will work closely with the ASEAN Foundation to provide skills training and job search assistance for more than 5000 young people," said Google Indonesia Country Director Randy Jusuf.

Google's Public Policy & Government Relations Manager Danny Ardianto further explained that in the capital loan program, they and Kiva will attract a number of local partners for lending. Through the hands of these local partners, the loan is expected to be able to touch as many MSMEs as possible throughout Indonesia.

"Our goal is to be able to reach the widest in all sectors and can provide a low interest rate," added Danny.

Meanwhile, the grant funds will be focused on vocational training for young people. The program is scheduled to take two years with the hope of accelerating the employability of young people in Indonesia.

Focus on fighting unemployment

Google's focus on reducing the impact of the pandemic on the workforce in Indonesia can also be seen from its development Kormo Jobs app. Launched early last year, Google is steadily developing Kormo Jobs as a platform that brings job seekers together with companies in need.

Operations Lead Kormo on Google's Next Billion Users team Bickey Russell revealed at least three updates to the app. First is the feature that allows remote job interviews to occur. The second is the availability of learning modules in English that can help job seekers. The last is professional certification for online courses taken. For the last point Google collaborating with the Arcade and Qubisa.

Bickey claims the number of Kormo Jobs users continues to double this year. That's why they continue to expand the list of listed companies from the logistics sector, essential services, to SMEs.

"For now, we are still focused on improving the performance of the application. We see that we still need a lot of improvement, such as how to match job seekers with companies, recommend suitable jobs, and others. That's our focus at this time," explained Bickey.

In line with government targets

At the start of the Google for Indonesia 2020 event, President Joko Widodo who opened the series by mentioning the country's huge need for digital talent. The President said that Indonesia needs at least 9 million digital talents until 2035.

"We need more software developers, we need more product designer, and we also need support content creator as much as possible. Therefore, the development of IT human resources cannot be delayed any longer," said Jokowi at the opening of Google for Indonesia 2020.

In addition to the need for human resources in the digital sector, Jokowi also mentioned the need for capital to stimulate MSMEs during this pandemic. He said that out of a total of 64 million MSMEs in the country, at least only 8 million have been integrated into digital technology.