Crowdsourcing is a type of participative activity by a group of people in response to a task given by an institution or an individual (Estellés-Arolas & Gonzalez-Ladron-de-Guerva, 2012). While crowdsourcing is often used in a context of generating innovative ideas (Adler & Chen, 2011; Majchrzak & Malhotra, 2013), there are other types of use of crowdsourcing. According to a book by Daren C. Brabham (2013), a problem-based typology of crowdsourcing approaches includes Knowldedge Discovery & Management, for example, where an institution or an individual mobilizes a crowd to find and assemble information. This type of approach has been used by an Indonesian social enterprise company called PT. Rekan Usaha Mikro Anda (RUMA), or translated to “Your Micro Business Partner”, to achieve its social agenda while making profit to the company itself.

Started as an idea for a business game competition, RUMA aims to empower the poor population of Indonesia and help them to create profitable business through micro-franchising while simultaneously generating profit for the company. To do so, RUMA uses information technology such as mobile phone which has been extremely high in its penetration even among the poor in Indonesia. Continue reading RUMA: Crowdsourcing it to the poor →