Recursive Impact for Indonesia Digital Archipelago

Recursive Impact for Indonesia Digital Archipelago

A BREAKTHROUGH IMPACT THAT LEVERAGES THE FUTURE TECH TALENT OF INDONESIA

By Nurrizky Imani University Innovation Fellow Universitas Gadjah Mada

Completing our strategic priorities as a UIF team was difficult, especially at the end of the semester when we were swamped with multiple projects and internships. After we implemented the second priority, the team was no longer able to continue with the same members, as they all graduated and accepted different opportunities.

At the time, I was preparing for the UIF Silicon Valley Meetup at Stanford University in March 2022, and I was preparing to conclude my UIF journey in a positive manner. Nonetheless, the Meetup proved to be the launching point for my non-profit program to assist tech product engineering students to get opportunities through internships. During the time I spent preparing for the trip, I had to ask myself if it was worthwhile to invest the time and effort. My preparation was not easy; I struggled with funding due to a campus complex administration process, which ultimately resulted in a denial of funding from the campus administration. However, I was fortunate to get funding from my study department in computer science, which helped to lower the cost. I then joined the UIF Meetup by myself to represent Universitas Gadjah Mada. I am grateful that the hardship of coming to Stanford allowed me to rediscover my true north star. The Meetup aided me in discovering my passion for understanding “system” through design thinking. For me, this “system” entails creating social change through the product engineering sector in the technological realm. This led me to the final strategic priority implementation.

In April 2022, I was thrilled to be accepted in Mckinsey & Company’s Young Leaders of Indonesia (YLI), one of the most prestigious and competitive scholarships in Indonesia that provides leadership knowledge and opportunities. During the program, I was able to develop the UIF UGM’s final strategic priority as one of the Personal Leadership Projects with the assistance of mentors from Young Leaders of Indonesia and UIF. Using my experience in developing two UIF priorities, I designed a non-profit program called “Recursion Tech Mentoring Program,” which helps students obtain internships in technology product engineering roles. This project represents the convergence of my interests in technology, leadership, and design thinking.

The trainings offered by UIF and Young Leaders Indonesia enabled me to create a mentoring program without significant difficulty. I collaborated with a team of four to develop an end-to-end plan for the long term, which aided in the development of a simple yet effective working and monitoring system. During the mentoring program, I was able to invite nine mentors with extensive industry experience from Google, Gojek, and Tiket.com, among others. With the support of three communities, I was able to register more than 40 students and select 20 for the mentoring program. During mentoring, we delivered content and also fostered a sense of belonging and connection with each individual. Our objective was to ensure that mentoring is enjoyable, which facilitates effective learning. This was the implementation of Susie Wise’s “Design for Belonging” session that I attended at the UIF Meetup, which helped me make Recursion a fun community despite its high level of online activity.

In the end of the Recursion Program, I was able to create 18 mentoring sessions and invite 36 students to a closing event about internships at Google. Recursion has become one of the most enjoyable initiatives for me. It allowed me to implement what I’ve learned about design thinking frameworks from Stanford and problem-solving frameworks from McKinsey & Company to influence the technology community in Indonesia so that Indonesia can realize its vision of becoming a digital archipelago. I hope Recursion will continue to impact students in Indonesia by connecting them to the industry in the future. Check our impact on Instagram and LinkedIn @recursion.tech.