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Shadine Taufik · · 7 min readThis Indonesian startup speeds up auto repair shops’ digital transition
In the digital age, small businesses – whether offering online services or not – must use technology to grow and remain competitive, and startups have played a key role in helping MSMEs go digital.
But among the many local startups driving this transformation, Rizky Jonathan Lumban Gaol noticed that there were hardly any serious players targeting the automotive workshop segment.
Inspired by his father, who owned several auto workshops, Gaol decided to tap into the commonly offline segment. He tells Tech in Asia that after seeing his father work, he understood the common challenges in the business.
An automotive workshop in Jakarta that uses Bengkel Mania’s services / Photo credit: Bengkel Mania
In 2021, he launched Bengkel Mania, which focuses on digitalizing the operations of MSME workshops.
“Even in Jakarta, many workshops aren’t accustomed to accepting digital payments, let alone using customer relationship management or smart inventory systems,” the CEO and founder explains.
The Indonesian Association of Automotive Workshops also expressed a similar view, stating that the number of “modern” auto-repair shops in Indonesia is still less than 5%.
According to the association, a modern workshop follows contemporary management practices, which include having the latest diagnostic tools and effective financial management, giving out warranties, and using tech for tasks such as managing the customer database.
The challenge to address these issues presents an immense market potential. There are at least 400,000 automotive workshop businesses in the country as of November 2021, with around 95% of these categorized as MSMEs.
Bengkel Mania, which raised pre-seed funding earlier this year, and says it has served over 1,000 workshops in the Greater Jakarta area as of January 2023.
Supply chain challenges
Bengkel Mania offers services to support workshop efficiency, one of which is digital procurement. The firm collaborates with automotive suppliers to streamline the supply chain, making products more affordable. It takes a margin from each product sold.
Andi, a motorcycle workshop owner, tells Tech in Asia that he usually stocks his products by shopping at the spare-parts centers across Greater Jakarta. However, he is open to trying online ordering for spare parts in the future.
Bengkel Mania co-founder and CEO Rizky Jonathan Lumban Gaol (right) when signing a collaboration with fintech firm Finku / Photo credit: Bengkel Mania
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Through its online procurement and invoice-based financing solutions, Bengkel Mania looks to help automotive workshops in Indonesia go digital.
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