“I wanted to become a doctor, but I ended in ITS,” Leonikasari explained during the discussion session in #Move4Women at Tempo Institute.
In Senior High School, Leonika’s favourite subject was biology. Her grade never went lower than 90. “But my parents did not want me to be a doctor, they were afraid it would take me too long. Mind you, I am their only child. After all, liking biology and medical subjects does not necessarily mean I had to be a doctor, right?” Spending her university time in ITS, Leoni was used to be among male students. Especially in the IT world, start-up pioneers are mainly male-dominated area. “I am so used to be undermined. But this kind of thing ignites my spirit.” Leoni was selected as “Perempuan Penembus Batas” – Women Who Breakthrough – in Tempo magazine 2015.
Her love for biology and health did not fade away. She read many articles on the public health issue. She was stunned to find that Indonesia is lacking 1 million bags of blood every year. In fact, in 2013, we were short of 2.4 million bags. Leonika started to think hard. What to do?
Then an idea to create a blood bank information system application sparked. Reblood, a start-up she initiated, provide information on any blood donation events available. Any interested person can choose the nearest spot to donate. More importantly, Leonika documented that in every single event, only 40 to 50 percent of the participant who could successfully donate their blood. “Those who are not in fit condition, having flu, lack of sleep, did not have breakfast all were rejected to donate. How unfortunate, right?” Reblood tried to fill in this gap by providing healthy lifestyle tips and guidance on the app. “There is a daily reminder, so on the D day the user is ready to donate.” Reblood has grown since. This app is downloaded by more than 10,000 users. It is quite a good achievement for such app. “In the future, we do not want people to die from lack of blood supply.”
What did she learn from initiating a start-up? Leonika mentioned that one of the most important things is to have a solid team. “Not just people who get along well, BFF or brilliant and brainy people. More important from that, is to have people who can commit.”
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Pic by @ruangdantempo
