Meet Amanda Cole, The Figure Who Connects Farmers Through An Amazing App
Young, talented, and inspirational are probably the right words to describe Amanda Cole, the founder of the startup known as Sayurbox. Starting from her concern for small farmers who complained about the length of the marketing chain and the lack of market information, it encourages her to establish a startup called Sayurbox in 2017.
She never thought that her business would become as big as it today, especially since the Covid 19 pandemic where many people choose not to go anywhere, including to the market. Sayurbox comes like a savior. Because of the brilliant idea that Amanda had, she received an award from Forbes, the United States business magazine. Do you want to know more about Amanda’s story about founding Sayurbox? Here’s the story!
Turning a Problem Into An Opportunity
Before founding Sayurbox, Amanda worked for a private company for 2 years, then she realized that she wanted to do something different. So, she decided to resign and pursue her hobby in gardening. It so happened that Amanda’s family had some land in Sukabumi. She also came to visit and that was where her new journey began.
Amanda met and talked with Misto, a cassava farmer who sold his harvest for Rp 600/kg to a middleman. In fact, the selling price of cassava in Jakarta could reach Rp 6000/ kg at that time. From this discussion, Amanda concluded that there were two main problems experienced by the farmers. First, the long marketing chain caused the price of the product to become expensive but the farmers could not feel the economic benefits. Second, the lack of market information caused the farmers to not be able to know about the needs of the vegetables in urban areas. From these two main problems, Amanda found an opportunity to set up a business with a farm to table concept. Through this concept, farmers will get data about the need for vegetables in urban areas as well as improving the farmer’s economy in a better direction. Then, in 2017, she and her two partners Metha and Rama, founded a startup called Sayurbox, as a solution to connect farmers directly to buyers.
At this moment, Sayurbox has collaborated with 300 farmers and served more than 8000 consumers in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, and Depok. This number continues to grow every month and already offers 300 kinds of vegetables and fruits. Also, Sayurbox has 50 farmer partners who are members of it. Seeing the increase in the number of requests on the Sayurbox website, Amanda and her two partners finally launched the Sayurbox application which can be downloaded on Google Play store and app store.
From Sayurbox Until Forbes 30 Under 30
Because of her brilliant idea, Amanda has been listed in the Forbes Under 30 list in the Industry, Manufacturing & Energy 2019 category. Forbes gave her this award because they saw that Sayurbox has had a significant impact on the community, especially local farmers. In the future, Amanda also has a big ambition for Sayurbox. She wants that Sayurbox can be available all around Indonesia so every local farmer in each region can receive the benefits.
When she was asked about the secret in creating Sayurbox, here’s Amanda answers :
“Just do what you love. You will learn as the business goes on. Also, you have to willing to get out of your comfort zone and have no problem with uncertain conditions. If you keep doing it, as time goes by without you knowing it the business you are going through will be as greater as it is”
From Amanda, we learn that creative ideas can come from anywhere. All we need to do is open our mind and look at it from a different perspective. Then, our creative idea will bring us to a desire to build a business that can have a positive impact on others and the most important thing is how we do it seriously, diligently, and consistently. Failure and uncertainty will always be found in every journey of making dreams come true. Don’t give up, enjoy every process you go through, and success will soon come to us.
Amanda has shared her inspirational journey. How about you? Are you ready to inspire other people too?
Written by Aqida Widya Kusmutiarani
