Jakarta, 6 July 2022. Group of Twenty (G20) EMPOWER Presidency of Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft Indonesia to implement the Code; Without Barriers program. This program provides a platform that enables female talent to contribute to the growth of an inclusive digital economy through participation and innovation in technology. A series of activities such as skills training, certification, and job opportunities for women will be carried out as part of this program.
The signing of the MoU that took place at the Ritz Carlton Pacific Place, Jakarta, Wednesday (6/7), was carried out by Chair of G20 EMPOWER Indonesia Yessie D. Yosetya and Co-Chair of G20 EMPOWER Indonesia Rinawati Prihatiningsih, as well as Krishna Worotikan as Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft Indonesia.
Yessie D. Yosetya also serves as Director & Chief Strategic Transformation & IT Officer of XL Axiata. Meanwhile, Rinawati Prihatiningsih serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and co-owner of PT Infinite Berkah Energi, and Deputy Chairperson for Research, Development, and Employment at IWAPI.
Yessie said, "The signing of this collaboration is in line with the big theme of the G20 Presidency of Indonesia 2022 "Recover Together, Recover Stronger" and the third main theme of the G20 Empower 2022, which is to build women's future readiness in the digital economy. The partnership with Microsoft Indonesia is one of the implementations of efforts to close the economic gender gap that has been going on by encouraging competency development and at the same time creating opportunities for women to participate in the field of digital technology.”
Meanwhile, Rina Prihatiningsih explained that the cooperation through the Code; Without Barriers program would focus on four things. First, encouraging awareness, advocating, influencing change, and realizing women's leadership through their ideas and thoughts regardless of their ability in technology. Second, providing access to opportunities in technology through digital skills and connected communities.
Third, create a strong ecosystem and community of women in artificial intelligence and technology to accelerate national digital transformation and innovation. Fourth, improving employability, including “job shadowing” (job training with more experienced mentors), internships, mentoring, creating job opportunities, and various recruitments.
"G20 EMPOWER in the future, more and more women will master digital technology, so they have strong access to benefit from the continuous development of digitalization and the digital economy around the world. Moreover, it is predicted that Indonesia has a digital economy potential of up to IDR 1,700 trillion by 2025," continued Rina.
According to data from the Boston Consulting Group in 2020, female labor participation in the technology industry in Southeast Asia was around 32 percent. Specifically in Indonesia, the figure stood at 22 percent. It shows that there are still many opportunities that shall and can be opened for women to further contribute to the technology industry.
Nina Wirahadikusumah, Microsoft Indonesia's Business Strategy Director who witnessed the signing of the MoU, said, “We believe that to achieve a truly inclusive economic recovery, and to support Indonesia's digital economy, more women need to acquire digital skills. In addition to supporting equality, businesses with gender diversity are also believed to have better performance. According to McKinsey, advancing gender equality from now could add US$13 trillion to global GDP by 2030. That is why we feel very honored to be collaborating with G20 EMPOWER to support women's empowerment in Indonesia.”
Code; Without Barriers program was first launched by Microsoft in the Asia Pacific in September 2021. At least 13 companies and 21 developer communities in the Asia Pacific have become partners of this program. Since its launch, this program has also carried out activities such as the Mentoring Circles Program; launching a podcast series aimed at creating awareness, challenging assumptions, and celebrating diversity in the worlds of coding, technology, and data science; as well as holding a hackathon that invites all women to show their technical skills.
Through G20 EMPOWER's participation in Code; Without Barriers, it is hoped that women's empowerment in Indonesia will be more accelerated, while at the same time providing inspiration to companies and communities from other Asia Pacific countries. In fact, in line with the implementation of the G20 in Indonesia, this collaboration can also provide inspiration for other G20 participating countries regarding tangible efforts to involve women in economic growth.
G20 EMPOWER and Microsoft Indonesia hope this collaboration can enable diversity within the company. G20 EMPOWER Advocates aims to train and provide technology certification for 30% of women from participating companies in the next 12 months. In addition, this collaboration is also expected to open access to work and career development for female talents in Indonesia more broadly, as well as encourage the involvement of female technology leaders in coaching and mentoring to inspire and empower more female talents in the technology sector. Other programs such as hackathons and panel discussions will also be prepared together with corporate partners and other communities in Asia Pacific.