The True Potential of Rural Digitalization: Ryan Manafe of Dagangan

Indo Tekno Podcast

Ryan Manafe joins the Indo Tekno podcast to discuss both the difficulties and long-term rewards of staying true to rural e-commerce. While many of Indonesia's "warungtech" platforms claim to focus on enabling commerce in Tiers 3 & 4, many invariably retreat to urban markets such as Jakarta and Surabaya, given higher population density, consumer tech savviness and digital connectivity. Dagangan, which Ryan cofounded 4.5 years ago, maintains a disciplined focus on Indonesia's rural markets, home to 87% of the country's population and 75% of its household spending. Seeing far less competition in these regions, Dagangan leverages a "hub-and-spoke" architecture to access a larger profit pool compared to Indonesia's hyper-competitive Tier 1 markets. Ryan devotes a significant part of our discussion to the importance of meditation and mindfulness in navigating through today's challenges such as fund-raising and shifting competitive terrain.