Discussion with Halofina Founder & CEO Adjie Wicaksana in #SelasaStartup
Life pressures and current economic conditions actually influence most people to make their financial decisions. Starting from using emergency funds to cutting expenses.
As a digital financial planning platform, Halofina feels it is the right time to increase awareness to the public, with the aim of increasing financial literacy in the country. In the #SelasaStartup session, the first week of August 2020, DailySocial presented 'Adjie Wicaksana, the Founder & CEO of Halofina'.
Efforts to increase awareness
OJK noted that in 2019 the percentage of Indonesian citizens' financial literacy knowledge experienced a significant increase of around 38%. This number is certainly an achievement when compared to the previous 3 years which was only 29%. Even though it has increased, according to Adjie, this number is still far behind with other neighbouring countries that already have a fairly good amount of financial literacy among the community, around 70% and above.
What is a challenge, of course, is not only the size of Indonesia's population which is quite large compared to other neighbouring countries but also a low sense of trust or trust issues among the public, related to digital financial products.
"From there, it can be seen that the productive age is an ideal target market for a digital financial planning platform. Halofina offers products and services, in this case, financial planning," said Adjie.
Even though it only focuses on millennials, adjusting the phase that is ultimately faced by the productive age can increase the number of users who are most familiar with technology or better known as tech-savvy.
"We see that the productive age is the largest segment that has been frequently exposed and accustomed to digital products and technological innovations. This has become the focus of Halofina, ”said Adjie.
Scrape the entry barrier
The main problem that is still an obstacle for most fintech services to offer their products is the barrier entry for most people to start trying. From lack of trust to product safety and risk factors, which ultimately makes it difficult for fintech platforms in general to acquire users.
"For this reason, it is important for the platform to provide important and valid evidence from regulators. As our first platform, it has been listed in the Financial Services Authority's (OJK Sandbox) Digital Financial Innovation, Digital Financial Planner category, "said Adjie.
Apart from regulatory and legality issues, the platform must also have products that are relevant and needed by the community. In this case, creating a ' relatable ' product becomes important. At Halofina itself, financial planning products are then tried to be offered to target users.
"Early last July we launched the consultation feature. Its functions are similar to those offered by the health tech platform, namely online doctor consultation. However, at Halofina we provide certified financial planners for users to conduct consultations related to investment and financial planning, "said Adjie.
Pandemic and financial planning
During a pandemic, when a lot of negative news colours the daily routine, it turns out to be quite influencing the views and decisions of most people. If previously not many millennials cared about their financial management and financial planning, now according to Adjie there has been a significant increase in the community paying attention to their financial management.
Starting from using the right emergency fund to managing their finances. According to Adjie, this opportunity was then tried to be used by Halofina as a relevant platform. Not only on social media accounts and platforms, but Halofina also tries to provide the right and needed education, with the aim of increasing awareness of the importance of financial management and planning in everyday life.
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