Recalling the first time I was introduced to the “Industrial Revolution 4.0”

If you ask me, “when was the first time I learned about start-up, entrepreneurship, and financial technology?”

I would say, April 2018.

I could recall what the morning felt like on the day I attended an event, with a couple of my friends and workmates, that opened my eyes. How was the trip to the venue; where everyone sat while having breakfast in the restaurant nearby the hall. At the time, “From Now On” was faintly heard playing in the background while we waited for the event to start. Seminars and exhibition can get pretty boring but looking at my note — it was the most insightful event I had ever been to.

Ok, now, this was in 2018 so maybe this isn’t as “hot” as it used to.

It’s funny how I am probably feeling overwhelmed with many of these words in my note — buzzwords. There have been times I have felt very tired hearing or reading them repeatedly, and conflicted with the many pros and cons that exist surrounding them. I get it, they’re new: exciting and eye-brow raising.

It is also funny how just these two pages could already set my mind until today. What were the things that I learned there?

1. I discovered about how a start-up is born and what are some support they a start-up can get to get funding and itself sustained at various levels. I don’t think I ever learned about how a company is established so it was very interesting to actually be able to witness something that started small, then incubated and became massive, in such short period of time. Someone could still be in high school or in university, and could already see big things happening rather than waiting for at least a decade, like how some big companies that started in the past did. Having grown in an environment where growth and impact have been the mantra every morning, it really painted a picture of a reality that sometimes, grand things can happen sooner than we expected, and how they really started with ideas, collaboration, and consistent smaller steps.
2. The extent of how financial technology, an inclusive and very high quality one, can support sectors that are mostly associated with traditional or conventional process, like agriculture, fishery, and many women businesses. I heard “disruptive technology” a lot already but it was actually my first time learning about how it actually helped someone in West Java (which by the way, now I can argue that we probably need more “collaborative” technology because the presence of technology shouldn’t replace everything entirely — one cannot exist without the other, just as how fintech needs banks and vice versa).
3. How impactful personal and start-up development program are. I had just realized the perks and how they have helped a lot of people that I know, in not only being more knowledgeable, but also very sharp in thinking and being more gutsy to take risks. Let’s just spread this kind of spirit, okay. More people being fired up to do something worthwhile for themselves and others. We don’t need anymore snobs. I am very aware of how incredibly blessed am I to have been surrounded by people who have been great positive influences (thus I am probably the negative influence) — they have actively made an effort to develop themselves, expand their network, and take on many challenges. Not taking the easy road; nor following the steps many have travelled. I still can’t grasp how were they able to pull it off? *looks at self*

Anyway, don’t we miss going out and learning something together? Too bad I didn’t really get that in college — but that’s the point, right, as long as we can have that opportunity, and someday maybe we can provide others those opportunities, I guess understanding what we lack or what we don’t understand yet is the biggest driver. I remember it was on a weekday, so we headed back to our office and continued the rest of the day, preparing for a meeting in the evening, not knowing what was to come to our lives next. We were definitely way younger, more naïve, and energetic back then.

We just had Youth Pledge Day yesterday. A day that now has brought mixed feelings. Growing up, it was the day where I would feel like being the center of the attention; that there are perks in being young. It is good to be youth. For a good part of my years in university, I know I share the drive with many others. But I know that the situation in the last few years has given us a lot of reality checks — some reality on our workplace, our personal life (adulting, right), and how the hell the country is moving forward, almost leaving every important thing about our welfare behind? And even if youth can help, where and how?

So many youth, even those who have yet to finish high school, are already exposed to the grim reality of not only the difficulty in making the best out of university years (IF they can pursue higher education), and the increasingly competitive job market that just keeps on setting the bar very, very high, and now everyone just seems to be just a tool for the company to grow and pay back investors? The amount of information they have been subjected to, and the “standard” they have been enforced upon? Is it really in the name of their future, or is it eventually only to be a part of the system?

Although what I’ve learnt on the day is important, I do want remind us to not get too tempted with the prospect because it isn’t all nice; it isn’t for everybody, and it will not solve every problem that exists. There needs to be a balance — which not a lot of places have been very welcoming youth’s ideas, facilitating their learning, putting them in charge or trusting them with a handful of insights. I just hope that, we will be able to carry on, pushing through whatever challenges the older generation have put before us. We’ll keep learning, experiencing things, and empowering others. No more ideas and spirit being put off.