On February 27, 2020, the Inspirasi Indonesia Membangun Foundation (YIIM) in collaboration with Titan Baking, a bakery located in Cikajang, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, held entrepreneurship training in the field of Chicken Noodles. This event was also supported by CSR funds from PT. Insight Investment Management, an investment company that cares about social and humanitarian issues in Indonesia.

This event is a baking (cooking) training program batch 1 for 2020, which is planned to be conducted 4 times throughout 2020. In previous years, cooking training was varied, from making dry cookies to wet snacks that could be sold, so that to date, many alumni of the cooking training held by YIIM since 2016 have become independent entrepreneurs making and selling various cakes and foods.

Batch I for 2020 was attended by 12 people with diverse backgrounds, including correctional residents (penitentiary) of the Jakarta Pusat I Correctional Center, the unemployed, odd-job workers, housewives, and urban poor groups.

Dewi Astari, YIIM secretary, in her opening speech for the training said, “YIIM believes that through the skills training held, it can create a society that has creative, innovative, independent power and a high work ethic, and is able to produce superior entrepreneurs.

Dewi added, “YIIM is committed to accompanying and guiding poor communities to become competitive communities based on local resources.”

After the speech was delivered, the training session began with an introduction and theory on making chicken noodles and dumplings delivered by an instructor from Titan Baking Cikajang, Mrs. Eka Arei.

In this training, participants were also given recipes for making noodles and dumplings free of borax and preservatives, as well as how to process the noodles into chicken noodles using healthy ingredients without preservatives.

After the theory and demonstration were completed, the instructor divided the participants into 3 groups to practice the theory and cooking methods previously taught by the instructor in groups.

During the process of processing wheat flour, smoothing the dough, molding dumplings, and preparing chicken noodles, the process was carried out with assistance from the instructor and the Titan Baking training team.

In the practice session, a question and answer session also took place regarding strategies and alternative ingredients participants could use to create variations of chicken noodle menu so they could have competitiveness in the market.

One participant named Noviyanti, from the correctional residents of the Jakarta Pusat Correctional Center, shared her hopes for participating in the training. Novi said, “I am grateful to take part in this training, because I want to return to society with skills so that I can be independent.”

Novi added, “I hope that after this I can become a chicken noodle seller in the community and be able to meet my daily needs.”

Meanwhile, another participant, Sri Wahyuni, a housewife supporting two children, said, “This noodle-making training is very useful for me as a housewife who does not work, because I have health problems. However, I still have to bear needs of 2 children that must be financed.”

Wahyuni added, “I hope that after attending this training I can open a chicken noodle business to finance my children’s daily needs.”

This cooking training is a flagship program routinely organized by YIIM to inspire people to become independent, creative, and productive communities as well as become an economic movement that supports sustainable development goals, including poverty alleviation and supporting inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Salam Inspirasi!