Dr. Niko Azhari Hidayat (second from the right) inventor of Varises Indonesia. (Photo: Private Collection)
UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA NEWS – Some people may be familiar with the platform named Varises Indonesia. It is a startup created by a doctor of Universitas Airlangga Hospital (RSUA), Dr. Niko Azhari Hidayat. Varises Indonesia has been a reference website to solutions of varicose vein problems. It does not only work as an information center, the site is also a medium to get online consult on varicose problems.
Although it is considered as a new startup in Indonesia, Varises Indonesia has made an international achievement last May. On May 28-29 2019, Varises Indonesia was one of the representatives of Indonesian startup, which made it to ASEAN Entrepreneur Training Program (AETP) in Switzerland. With two other startups from Indonesia, Star4Hire-Jakarta, and UltraCelcius-Yogyakarta, Dr.Niko was invited to join the Pitching Battle with 200 startups from 22 countries.
Varises Indonesian is developed under the guidance of Institute for Business Development and Incubation (LPBI) Universitas Airlangga. LPBI has recommended several tenants or their startups to participate in national AETP in three cities in Indonesia, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Malang since March 15, 2019. In total, there were 20 Startup participants from the three cities who participate in the selection by pitching or presenting in each region.
The AETP program went through the track training day for three days. After the second training day, the head of the AETP program, Max Weber, suggested all startups to take part in the selection at 2019 Startup Day in Bern, Switzerland, on May 28-29. The twenty AETP participants sending their pitch deck were then selected by the committee.
“The preparation was quite short. Even though the training as a start-up under the accelerator was started on March 15, 2019, each startup is trained to prepare presentations with material and composition of the content tailored to the requirements of the committee, “explained Dr. Nikko.
As explained by dr. Niko, he and other participants underwent two-minute presentation preparation and training with AETP mentors/coaches. After attending the opening of the StartUp Day event by the Swiss Government, participants then participated in the Pitching Battle in Healthtech field for 100 seconds.
“We’re grateful for getting the chance to qualify for the rigorous selection and going to Switzerland. We hope Varises Indonesia will become an advanced and mature startup in the Digital Health scene in Indonesia and the world, “he said.
“An interesting and positive experience was when we met the investors from Switzerland and European countries. It is an excellent lesson on how to develop and improve the startup industry in our country, “he stated. (*)