Do you still remember Janu Muhammad? The son of a vegetable seller in Sleman Market who graduated from the geography education program at the Faculty of Social, Legal and Political Sciences UNY with a GPA of 3.70 and continued his master's study at the University of Birmingham (UoB) majoring in Research in Human Geography, UK, England through an LPDP scholarship. A series of experiences abroad included meeting the President of the USA, Barrack Obama, through the YSEALI (Young Southeast Asia Leaders Initiative) program as an Indonesian delegate and being part of 1 of 23 people who were successfully selected throughout Southeast Asia. Now Janu is working on her role as an online vegetable entrepreneur. With inspiration from his parents, farmers and vegetable sellers in traditional markets, Janu is now developing Sayur Sleman. This platform has been available since May 2020; starting from Janu's anxiety to see his parents' low sales rate, Janu then marketed various vegetables, fruits, and side dishes online through Instagram @sayursleman.id and WhatsApp with his wife. Unexpectedly, his first customer came from a village neighbour who got information about Sayur Sleman from Instagram. The farthest orders at that time came from Klaten and Bantul.
According to the man born on January 7, 1993, as a social enterprise in agriculture, Sayur Sleman also has several programs, including Sayur Sleman Berbagi, which distributes alms from donors to underprivileged communities in 3 locations in the form of vegetable packages. More than 300 people have benefited from this program. There is also Sayur Sleman Bertani, which provides education and empowerment for Kricak Kidul RT 34, Tegalrejo, Yogyakarta City. "We assist the residents in urban farming and tilapia cultivation," said Janu on Tuesday (4/4). The program runs smoothly thanks to funding from UNDP Accelerator Lab Indonesia and Ecoxyztem. From the UNDP grant, the website www.sayursleman.id has been officially used for Sayur Sleman's business process. Finally, there is the Sayur Sleman Academy program which has a mission to create more young entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector, in line with the target of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia.
Janu's interest in agriculture is not without reason. Despite its great potential, some of the younger generations are still reluctant to develop the agricultural sector. "Food is a daily necessity, so there will always be demand," he said. Now the son of Ngadiyo and Lasiyem and his team will help develop the upstream side of agriculture with a hydroponic system. Sayur Sleman also has a team of mostly UNY alumni, including current interns. In between his activities, Janu often shares agribusiness training for millennial farmers and farmer groups. Although he is not an agriculture graduate, Janu proves that the willingness to learn, innovation, hard work, collaboration, and the power of prayer has helped him to continue to be helpful.
In March 2023, Janu was selected as the Ministry of Agriculture's 2023 Young Ambassador Agriculture Nominee and needs the support of the UNY family and the people of Indonesia through a voting system on April 1, 8, and 15, 2023 at 08.00-10.00 WIB. The complete link is submitted via Instagram @janu_muhammad. If later selected in the 50 Young Ambassador Agriculture, Janu and his colleagues have to inspire more young people to want to bring the agricultural sector to be more advanced, independent, and modern. Working according to passion and continuing to innovate is the message Janu wants to convey to students at UNY. With knowledge from the education campus, Janu wants to continue working with Sayur Sleman.
