10 women entrepreneurs in Indonesia who smashed the glass ceiling

Why are women so underrepresented in the tech industry? One of the reasons is a lack of role models for young women to identify with. Another is a proven gender bias of VCs when it comes to investing in startups. A 2013 MIT study found that “investors prefer entrepreneurial pitches presented by male entrepreneurs compared with pitches presented by female entrepreneurs, even when the content of the pitch is the same.” Yes, let that one sink in for a moment. Women pitching to a VC know that their chances of success are lower just based on their gender.

Techcrunch reports that the situation is improving in the USA, with about 10 percent of funded startups in 2014 led by women. In 2013, it had been a mere 5 percent.

In Tech in Asia’s list of startup fundings in Indonesia in 2014, only two out of 36 fundings went to startups with female founders (though one of them made it onto the list twice, technically making it three out of 36).

We believe it’s important to highlight the stories of women entrepreneurs who have successfully built promising startups against the odds, and are ready to lead the way in the risky environment of tech entrepreneurship.

Here’s a list of 10 female tech entrepreneurs in Indonesia who have set shining examples by offering smart solutions in a diverse range of sectors from healthcare and fashion to online payment.

See 10 women entrepreneurs in India who smashed the glass ceiling

Aulia Halimatussadiah, Nulisbuku

No list of women entrepreneurs could be complete without mentioning Aulia Halimatussadiah. She has authored multiple fiction books and has started several tech ventures, including online bookstore kutukutubuku back in 2006 and, more recently Indonesia’s first online self-publishing platform nulisbuku.

Halimatussadiah stands out because of her commitment to promote women entrepreneurship in Indonesia. With Girlsintechindonesia she and partners Anantya van Bronckhorst and Ria Ariyanie started a community for female tech startup founders.

Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo, Zalora

Catherine Sutjahyo left her job at McKinsey for an even tougher one: She is co-founder and director of Zalora Indonesia. The ecommerce giant is part of the Rocket Internet family and launched in Indonesia in 2012.

Being part of the Rocket network automatically puts Sutjahyo in the spotlight and she’s responsible for managing millions of dollars in funding from firms like JP Morgan and Rocket Internet. Kudos to her for taking on a challenge of this caliber.

Cynthia Tenggara, Berrykitchen

Berrykitchen is a catering service that delivers lunchboxes, mostly to other companies. Founder Cynthia Tenggara previously worked at Groupon Indonesia, so she is already familiar with the world of tech entrepreneurship. in March 2014, Her startup was one of the first to receive funding from ANGIN, an Indonesian angel fund set up especially to invest in promising, women-led startups. Later that year, Berrykitchen secured another round of funding, this time from East Ventures.

Claudia Widjaya and Yenti Elizabeth, BerryBenka

BerryBenka started off as a small online fashion store in August 2011. Founded by two women, Claudia Widjaya and Yenti Elizabeth, BerryBenka may not have the huge network Zalora has, but the site’s performance was promising enough to convince East Ventures to invest back in 2012. BerryBenka got funded again by GREE ventures in January 2013 and a THIRD time with a whopping US$5 million in late 2013. These two women started something small, but are going big.

Diajeng Lestari, HijUp

Diajeng Lestari worked as researcher for Mars Indonesia before setting up shop in ecommerce. Her platform, HijUP specialises in Muslim fashion. Considering Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, this is a great idea. Bootstrapped since 2011, HijUP just received funding in 2015.

Lestari now has the chance to prove if her shopping portal can also become popular in other Muslim countries.

Donna Lesmana, Lolalola

Donna Lesmana is the founder of online shop for lingerie, Lolaloa. She has had previous experience in ecommerce with outdoor and sports clothing store sukaoutdoor. Finding potential for a new online lingerie shop in Indonesia, she started Lolalola. The site launched in August 2014 and already has powerful backers: Bangkok-based Ardent Capital and aCommerce as logistics and marketing partners.

Grace Tahir, PilihDokter

Hanifa Ambadar, Female Daily

Nabilah Alsagoff, Doku

Veronika Linardi, Qerja