Fingertalk

Introduction

There are many ways that we can do good things for our society. Each person chooses different way
depending on their knowledge, experience, and expertise. Dissa Ahdanisa who graduated in
accounting and business management. Moreover, she got a job and worked as a accountant in
Singapore. During school life, she joined many social activities and got the ideas that she could
possibly make a change for society especially people with disability. She wanted to focus on the deaf
people because the memory that she had in the nursing center. Her ambition was she wanted our
society to be a better place that hearing and deaf people can live and work together. She started
Fingertalk with the hope of people with disability could live on their own without supporting.

Background

Fingertalk was founded in 2015 by Dissa Ahdanisa. She was the CEO of Fingertalk who tries to
make a better change for deaf people in Indonesia the business purpose aims to create the equal
employment opportunities for people with disability, especially, the deaf people. They mostly have
no jobs and difficult lives because of communication barrier and social stigma. Fingertalk was given
the name by her father that means using sign language for operating business and social enterprise
was the business form that Dissa got inspired by Cafe de la Sonrisas where there were both deaf and
hearing crews working together. The mission is to create positive change and increase awareness that
people with disabilities can work and inclusive in Indonesian society. Deaf Cafe Fingertalk was the
first started in 2015 that offers coffee, beverages and food. Customers can experience using sign
language to order and enjoy all menus with affordable price. The deaf cafe got attention and other
two locations. fully operate cafe. They offer more services including car wash, bakery, and
workshops in the second location. Handicraft and training workshops are conducted by the members
and there are more than 30 deaf and people with other disabilities work together to make a positive
change. Fingertalk is a good example of inclusive organization that everyone has work and puts their
energy together to reach the goal and make a positive outcome.

The fact about disabilities in Indonesia

Indonesia is a developing country and 10% of total Indonesian population has some kind of
disability. In 2022 the statistic survey shows about education level of people with disability aged
more than 15. 17.22% of disabled people are never attended school, 24.72% not be able to finish
primary school and 28.91% graduate up to primary school. The employment opportunity become
more difficult for them. Most of them are poor and face many limitations in their lives including
systemic barrier, insufficient budget and social stigma and exclusion and communication problem,
The support from government and social welfare are so limited and people in society view people
with disability to be helpless, unable to work and join social activities.

Fingertalk social enterprise

Fingertalk was established in form of social enterprise and aims to earn profit from selling products
and service to pursue social objective and solve social problem. Social enterprise is not as same as
social charity that raise fund from donation, but it is the same as enterprise. Fund raising is from
business operation and they must compete with other enterprises in the same market. The company
faces many difficulties such as limitation on revenue generation and resources, lacking fund, less
competitive advantage and strict business rules and loan regulation. Fingertalk has difficult time to
access the loan with 9% interest rate payment. Dissa must use her personal money to support and
keep business running.

Pros and Cons of Fingertalk performance review

Fingertalk is a good example of inclusive organization where everyone worked together toward the
goal to make a positive outcome. Dissa and all crews had a high supportive energy and commitment
to make Deaf Cafe happen and everyone did their best to perform their roles and support their teams.
Most members were lack of skills in making coffee, interacting with people, and communicating so
they all received training programs before they started to work. Fingertalk held many workshops to
support people in the local community with the purpose of increasing working skills to create job
opportunity in the future.
Products and services were offered affordable price comparing with market’s price and customers
could experience and enjoy learning environment in sign language while drinking coffee.

Even though many training programs were planned and taught to the crews, there were some
limitations and obstacles for Dissa and the crews. Language barriers obviously was the major
concern. The communication between hearing people and the deaf was not easy as it should be and
even the communication among the deaf crews was tough because there are many sigh language
patterns using among them. Lacking resources such as fund and skillful workers were the major
problems and Dissa is expert in number rather than marketing and management. She had to work out
every single role on her own. The bottom line of running business is competitive advantage and must
compete with other competitors in the same industry. Fingertalk had a great business plan, but
marketing strategy was not effective enough to generate revenue and capture customers. Their story
telling captured audience’s attention and pulled them in but if their story was faded away and did not
repeat constantly. the memory possibly was gone and as well as their revenue.

How Covid-19 Pandemic impact on Fingertalk

All Businesses including Fingertalk had been suspended and faced with unexpected situation.
Indonesian government announced lockdown, quarantine, social distancing and wearing a mask.
Communication for deaf people needs both sign language and lip read. Without one another, they
could not communicate, and some employees got inflected. The first deaf cafe was suspended but the
second location for car wash, cafe, and bakery continuously operated. Workshop was held
sometimes. The third cafe was not in the lockdown zone so it operated as usual but revenue
considered low. All expenses including rental fee, inventory and labor cost were extremely high and
could not keep operating business. Among these services, car wash was the only one that could pay
out the bill and. Fingertalk was forever closed. All members lost their jobs and income for one month
after lockdown in 2020.

Recommendation and conclusion

The consequence of pandemic was vulnerable but one memorable thing remain. We can see much
clearer picture of positive change for people with disability that they are able to work and be
inclusive in our society if we give them a chance. Dissa has inclusive leadership qualification. We
appreciate her courage and effort to make a change in our society even though Fingertalk was finally
closed down. There are some recommendations for her new journey that can help her strength
strategic management. Firstly, recess business model is important. It is simple by seeing the balance
sheet of each product and services. The only car wash generated revenue that means this type of
business should be focus on. Secondly, customer experience leads to customer loyalty. A unique sign
language environment could not impress everyone. Products and services are the main core to create
customer’s experience to keep them coming back. Using order sheet, offering delivery service or
revising menu and the taste of food and beverage are alternative way to do. We can borrow the ideas
from other successful cafes, car wash etc. and adapt to our business model. Fourthly, social media is
a cheap and effective way to tell brand story. Since the spread of pandemic, people spend more time
reading, watching, buying, and chatting on their devices. telling your brand story on the popular
platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, twitter and so on can advertise your brand and
Influencers can create many fun and interesting stores. The more you post the stories, the clearer and
louder your voice can reach the audiences. Finally, it is so difficult that one person can do well in
everything. Even though the purpose of business is to help people with disability without gaining any
personal benefit, competition on the market does not take into their concerns. Most business tries to
gain competitive advantage as much as they could. If Dissa can find partners who have different
expertise in management area to share her mission, the next generation of Fingertalk will do better
and better.