1. Startups

Gigacover Inaugurates Presence in Indonesia, Targets Financial Products for “Gig Worker”

Has been used by 30 thousand employees, disbursed Rp3 billion salary has been disbursed earlier every month by the company

Startups fintech Gigacover inaugurated its presence in Indonesia after operating for approximately one year. This Singapore-based startup is targeting freelancers (gig workers) with financial products that are at the bottom of the pyramid for job protection.

In a virtual press conference, Co-Founder and CEO Gigacover Amerson Lin said his company stepped in as a liaison between businesses, financial institutions, governments and freelancers, by supporting and providing financial products as needed.

"We see a huge growth opportunity because more and more millennials are choosing to become entrepreneurs, and companies are implementing hybrid workforce recruitment by taking on more contract staff and temporary workers," he said, yesterday (22/7).

Quoting from World Bank 2019 data, Southeast Asia's independent workforce grew by 30% on an annual basis. Google and Temasek also estimate that there are around 150 million individual freelancers in the region, 50% of whom have difficulty accessing various financial services and adequate job protection.

In Indonesia alone, citing the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), there were 33,34 million part-time workers as of August 2020, an increase of 4,32 million or 26% YOY. Unfortunately, this group of workers occupies the lowest position of the work protection pyramid, even losing to blue-collar workers who are protected by Law no. 13 of 2003.

National labor force statistics per year 2020 / BPS

Freelancers in Indonesia have almost no guarantees related to labor, be it job security, income or social protection. Their social security is not required to enter as part of the employer's required entitlement, which means they have to pay for products to protect themselves.

Country Head Gigacover Indonesia Cobysot Avego continued, the unprotected casual workers with work and social security has a serious impact on welfare and disrupts work productivity. In a study he cited, as many as 24% of workers who experience financial problems will have their productivity disrupted at work. Of these, 40% of workers lose three hours or more during the week because of their financial problems, 20% of them even have to miss the office.

Gigacover products and services

Gigacover provides stability and equality for independent workers, including workers gigs, freelancers, and people who are self-employed without a company auspices, to access better financial services. The services provided have four features: earnings advance, group insurance policies, borrow, and payment. All of these features are available thanks to the company's collaboration with various financial institutions.

Services earnings advance This is also offered by similar players in Indonesia, including: GajiGesa, Gadjianand Wagely.

In Indonesia, Gigacover has collaborated with AXA Insurance and Manulife to provide insurance products. Cobysot said the company will work with more local players to support features that are soon to be launched, namely fast medical check, pharmacy discountand clinics appointment.

"We are in the discussion stage with players healthtech to be a partner in features fast medical check to support access to more affordable healthcare, in line with trends that have occurred since this pandemic,” said Cobysot.

Since its presence a year ago, Gigacover has now been used by 30 thousand freelancers in Indonesia who work together in companies from various industries. They come from the logistics industry, insurance agents, workers outsourcing company, service, and technology companies. Axa Financial Agent is one of its users.

Of the four existing features, the majority of Gigacover users here take advantage of the features salary advance and microinsurance. According to Gigacover data, as much as IDR 3 billion in salary has been disbursed earlier by the company each month for its freelance employees. This figure has an impact on increasing employee productivity by up to 50 hours per month.

Gigacover applies B2B2W strategy (w=worker) in carrying out its business approach. “This means that Gigacover partners with companies that want to provide welfare for workers, these workers are the ones who access services at Gigacover. But the benefits are not only for the workers, but also for the business itself.”

Cobysot targets this year to increase the number of users at 200 thousand users.

As a form of compliance with regulations, Gigacover is currently processing registration at the OJK Sandbox. “Our insurance products are safe because we directly buy packages from Manulife and AXA. We are targeting that by the end of this year all OJK licenses have been fulfilled.”

Gigacover expansion targets

More Coverage:

Since arriving in Singapore in 2017, Lin claims the company hascover 300 thousand freelancers, equivalent to half of the freelance population there. Its users are not only freelancers, but also workers in creative industries, such as content creators, consultants ., and many more. The names of the companies, such as Gojek Singapore, Foodpanda, and Gogox.

“We will apply the same strategy for Indonesia and the Philippines, going into industries that have a working population gig workers most have just entered other industries,” said Lin.

Not only present in Indonesia and Singapore, now Gigacover has also started its business in the Philippines. Then plans to enter Vietnam and Thailand in the next year to two years as part of its expansion strategy in Southeast Asia.

This expansion to Indonesia, he continued, is part of the company's plan after securing funding in 2019 led by Vectr Fintech and Quest Ventures Partners.

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