Have you ever imagined building your brilliant idea and teaming up with resourceful, creative people while at the same time standing a chance to hit the jackpot? You’re not the only one. But imagine no more because Mitrais can make it real through Innovathon, an annual competition where employees collide together in a fun, competitive quest to bring out new brainchildren and win remarkable prizes.

Last month, Mitrais celebrated its 5th Innovathon with flooding enthusiasm as the grand final was celebrated both physically and virtually, live from Mitrais Bali HQ. Innovathon 2022 was very special because, finally, the staff could mingle and make up for the lost time at the offices as the health protocol has been loosened up.

Prizes and Theme

Innovathon 5 featured a special fuel that drove participants’ competitiveness to the max: a free trip to Japan for the 1st winning team. The six grand finalist teams were competing to win a total of IDR 122,000,000.

With the fusion of Indonesia as its theme, the recent festivity celebrated cultural and national pride as well as the local lifestyle that inspires innovation. The premise highlighted that Indonesian talents, too, are highly capable of being innovative.

A Celebration for All

Customarily, Innovathon is a celebration for all. So, everyone was encouraged to engage in quizzes, social media contests, and an Indonesian-themed costume competition. People showered Instagram reels and LinkedIn with Innovathon’s videos and photos to walk away with IDR 1 million for each winner. Whilst those who attended the event at the offices showed up in unique costumes that screamed Indonesia: wayang, traditional attires, fictional superheroes, school uniforms, and iconic movie characters. Music, food, and games added up to the extra fun day.

Learning from The Go-getters

Innovathon elevates participants’ ideas by providing mentoring sessions with leading IT figures. This time again, in-house mentors and external coaches extended their Midas touch on the grand finalists’ ideas. Made Setiadi, Rommy Rempas, Agus Winarta, Nigel Jones, and Abubakar Siddiq stepped up as each grand finalist’s mentor this season.

Norman Sasono (CTO of DANA Indonesia) and Risman Adnan (CTO of Samsung Research Indonesia) came into the picture as external coaches, sharing their best knowledge and experience in open lectures.

The Winners

Like the previous year, the event welcomed external participants to join Mitrais internal staff, making the teams inclusive joined forces. All staff voted for their favorite teams to determine the winners.

The 1st winning team, MiTRA-san, won the triumph with a one-stop AI mobile app that makes admin processes, i.e. leave management and benefit claims, a breeze.

“We didn’t see it coming,” admitted the team. “Initially, we solely wanted to introduce Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology to the ideas pool. Also, this was our first time to compete in Innovathon, so winning the trip to Japan feels so surreal.” described Tibyan Ralibi, Mohammad Trinoferianto, and Felix Arya. The squad mentored by Nigel Jones is heading to Japan on the 25th of October 2022, “We are looking forward to our presentation in front of the CAC President at the HQ. Can’t wait to explore Akihabara too, as we all love anime, manga, and video games.” explained the team excitedly.

Meanwhile, determined to bring welfare to fishermen and seafood businesses, Carlkan, the 2nd winner under Rommy Rempas’ wing, created an app that helps Indonesian fishermen locate fishing spots and bring them closer to customers.

“To be honest, we were surprised that we came out as runner-up because we only aimed for the last prize. Our presentation was not as catchy as others, and even though we integrated satellites use, the tech was not as complicated as others,” commented the team of Andika Priantama, Purwo Lapiza, Natasha Afifah, Muhammad Ikramullah, and Muhammad Irfan.

Coached by Made Setiadi, the Senioor team who won the 3rd position came up with a refreshing program for the elderly. The app recommends nearby social activities for the elderly to sign up for and mingle, combating loneliness and depression after retirement. Yovena Pujiantoro, Andira Muttakim, Praditio Nugraha, and Candhie Ikhwan were behind this visionary idea.

Responding to the recent digital marketing trends, CreatorBox by Adimas Purwacaka, Arif Ikhsanudin, Ilham Fadil, Zainul Aziz, and Ghulam Kamil secured the 4th rank with a powerful system that simplifies and automates influencers’ marketing workflow.

Earning the consolation 1 rank, BeasiswaKita developed an under-one-roof solution for scholarship seekers and providers. The platform designed by Ade Hermawan, Yudhi Guntara, Kurnia Pamungkas, and M. Raihan Iqbal is also geared with features to improve users’ competence to apply for scholarships.

Big on altruism and go-green spirits, the ARK team by Kharis Isriyanto, Riyanto, and Arif Rahman landed the consolation 2 rank with Given: a service that enables users to give their unused items to either individuals or communities in need. A win-win solution indeed.

The Benefits

For the finalists, every stage of Innovathon allowed them to reap many treasured benefits. Besides the grand prize of visiting Japan, money, and mentoring opportunities, they got to learn about agility, adaptability, presentations, and teamwork skills, as well as collaborative tools and working effectively in a distributed team.

MiTRA-san team revealed, “We developed negotiating skills to accommodate the different points of view to produce one output that was mutually agreed upon. In addition, we learned how to deliver the best presentation and assigned PICs based on our specialty. Our mentor also helped us perfect our comical video presentation that hooked the audience.”

“During Innovathon, we gained our resilience and time-management skills to balance work and competition.” testified the Carlkan team. “What is more, we mastered creating a presentation that engages the audience from different backgrounds and covers all key details. Our mentors also gave us valuable advice on how to reshape and sell the idea so it would be appealing to the market.”

Further, the Senioor team remarked, “We were privileged to receive some important sessions: external coaching sessions and a financial projection mentoring session with Andriansyah Bachtar, Mitrais VP Finance. Those sessions greatly helped in completing the project. Even though the financial projection terms were quite difficult to understand, the pain point was the learning curve, and we’ve learned so much from it.”

It’s Your Turn

Why should others seize the chance? “This event can accommodate your idea and problem-solve with the help of a mentor. Moreover, if you are naturally timid, it will push you to learn how to express your thoughts in public speaking.” Encouraged the MiTRA-san trio.

Carlkan crew endorsed, “Do not be afraid to join just because you are not confident with your idea. You can learn a lot along the process and taste how to become a startup, bringing your idea to life to help other people.”

Ready for the next Innovathon and win remarkable prizes? Gather your best squad and get ready for Innovathon 2023. But first, #JoinMitrais today.