We started the company to accommodate people such as us with hearing loss who find it very difficult to get jobs because of their disabilitiesJakarta (ANTARA) - Some people with hearing loss disability have established a start-up coffee shop called Kopi Tuli, meaning the 'deaf coffee'. "We started the company to accommodate people such as us with hearing loss who find it very difficult to get jobs because of their disabilities," founder of Kopi Tuli, Putri Sampaghita Trisnawinny Santoso (Putri) said at the University of Indonesia (UI) Works event in Jakarta, Wednesday.
After experiencing job rejections from about 500 companies, Putri, together with two friends, Mohammad Adhika Prakoso and Tri Erwinsyah Putra, decided to establish their own inclusive company on May 12, 2018.
"Coffee was chosen since many people usually have coffee when they meet and discuss something," Putri added, and also hoped that Kopi Tuli would build an ecosystem of sign language as well as open job opportunities for people with disabilities.
A year after it was established, Kopi Tuli has currently two coffee shops of which one is in Duren Tiga, Jakarta, while the other is in Depok, West Java, with nine hearing-impaired employees. Putri targeted 1,000 Kopi Tuli coffee shops and 4,000 employers in the future.
The other founder of Kopi Tuli, Prakoso, who attended the event, hoped to find nearly Rp2 billion (around US$142,000) in investments to launch four new coffee shops where a cup of coffee would cost between Rp18,000 and Rp20,000, or about US$1.4. (INE)
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Translator: Indriani, Suwanti
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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