Some Good News from 2020 for All of Us

2020 was a challenging year, but not all that happened was bad. There was plenty of good news from Indonesia that provided a dose of optimism.

Here are some of the good news items:

First, although world economic growth was under pressure, startup companies in Indonesia were able to enjoy impressive business growth! By the end of 2020, six startups established by the nation's young entrepreneurs, Gojek, Traveloka, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, OVO, and JD.id, recorded amazing valuations of more than US$1 billion each. In fact, Indonesia has more unicorns than any other country in Southeast Asia.

Second, although international tourism declined, Bali remained a favorite destination in Asia among foreign tourists. Travel platform TripAdvisor ranked Bali in first place in the list of 25 most popular tourist destinations in Asia. Bali was also considered a more romantic honeymoon destination than Hawaii, the Maldives, Thailand and others. Cool!

Third, when it comes to producing outstanding athletes, Indonesia is the champion. This time around, it’s esports or electronic sports that created a buzz among young people. Last year, Indonesia’s esports team, Bigetron Red Aliens (Bigetron RA), emerged as champion at the PUBG Mobile World League (PMWL) Season Zero East Region competition after beating 15 teams from other Asian countries. Cool, right?

Fourth, various brands of products from Indonesia continued to dominate the world market! Indomie, for example, has repeatedly been named the world's tastiest instant noodle by various survey portals, bloggers and international media. What’s more, PaperOne, the brand of paper that you use to write and print your thesis, has been exported to 70 countries! Hurrah for #BanggaBuatanIndonesia!

Fifth, in 2019, surveys found that 27.7 per cent of Indonesian children under five were stunted due to a lack of adequate nutrition, among other things.

Stunting prevention is a complex endeavor and the government has set an ambitious target of reducing the prevalence of stunting to 20 per cent by 2024. Multisectoral collaboration between the government, the private sector, and individuals is crucial to achieve the target.

APRIL Group is one of the companies striving to contribute to stunting prevention efforts. The producer of the PaperOne brand is committed to reducing stunting in children under the age of five caused by chronic malnutrition in Indonesia, especially in areas where the company operates.

APRIL is determined to gradually reduce stunting prevalence in children under the age of five in Riau, where 16,275 cases of stunting were reported in 2019. Therefore, APRIL Group is supporting nutrition monitoring post to assist local governments in tackling stunting, as well as running community empowerment programs in health, education, social services and gender equality. The measures are in line with the commitment to Inclusive Progress, one of the pillars of APRIL2030 that was launched late last year.

Inclusive Progress is not APRIL Group’s sole commitment to helping to realize Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. There are three other commitments. Are you curious? Click here and keep tabs on Instagram @discoverapril!