The Kopernik headquarters in Ubud receives a lot of visitors. We get visited by tourists, passers-by, groups of students or educators, ambassadors of various countries even. But how about seeing the office filled with founders of the hottest new startups innovators and venture capitalists? A rare sight indeed. What’s happening?
Tech innovators and startup leaders huddled in the middle of the Kopernik headquarters.
It’s the Asia Leaders Summit 2016! The summit is an exclusive conference for investors and startups where they gathered to discuss the state of the tech startup scene in the hottest market for startups these days, the Asia Pacific region. This year’s summit was held in Nusa Dua, Bali, from 28th to 29th January 2016. The three day conference was packed with discussions about the growth, progress and insights of business opportunity by leading founders. Investors also chipped in to share insights, experiences and strategies about how to build a great company in the growing Asian markets. Not only that, visiting Kopernik’s headquarters in Ubud was also on their agenda. Here are the top three highlights from their visit to our office:
A GLIMPSE OF OUR TECH KIOSK
The Kopernik staff enthusiastically took our visitors around the Tech Kiosk. They were very intrigued by the diverse range of technologies that are available at our Tech Kiosk. (Fun fact: The Tech Kiosk was exclusively closed for the whole day for this event!)
A SERIES OF PRESENTATIONS & BRAINSTORMING
I was given my first opportunity to talk about Kopernik’s business model and initiatives. Talking about the first time - I was simultaneously ecstatic and terrified. I have always wanted to introduce Kopernik to a much bigger audience, TED-talk style, and this was the shot I had been waiting for. With only a few days to prepare, I was practicing and practicing really hard to know that a good speech takes a lot of effort and work.
On D-day, if you imagine the sweaty palm inducing anticipation of greeting and having to talk in front of a bunch of startup tycoons, that’s the kind of intensity I felt that day. But with the effort and the hours of practice that I put into it, I nailed the presentation! In my talk, I introduced Kopernik’s unique business model of connecting simple technology with last mile communities to reduce poverty.
I really enjoyed this opportunity and was really gratified by the enthusiasm and interest of the audience.
Tomo, Kopernik’s Strategic Initiatives Director continued the session by explaining one of Kopernik’s area of work, our Last Mile Consulting service, in which Kopernik provides professional advisory and consulting services to corporations and development agencies.
Kopernik co-founder and CEO Toshi Nakamura joined the discussion and went on to introduce Kopernik’s latest pilot initiative in the agricultural sphere by utilizing technologies that support small-scale farmers in remote areas. He explained about the range of productive tools that were introduced to farmers in Flores, Eastern Indonesia - such as a solar-powered rice huller, cashew nut opener, corn sheller and grain storage sacks.
Toshi then challenged the participants to discuss, brainstorm and present ideas on how to scale the new initiative.
In just 20 minutes, participants formed teams to work on ideas and presented the ideas to the whole group. It was such a great sight to see the enthusiasm of the participants in developing brilliant and innovative ideas for Kopernik!
See highlights from this event in this short video.
Photo credit: Ibnu Lukman/Kopernik
