Striving for Victory at Sea
A Story about Fishku, One of the Top 15 Product-Based Capstone Projects in Bangkit 2022
“As many as 11.34% of people in the fisheries sector are classified as poor. This percentage is higher than the restaurant service sector (5.56%), building construction (9.86%), and waste management (9.62%).”(Prof. Dr. Zuzy Anna, Professor of the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences at Universitas Padjadjaran, 2017)
Looking at the survey conducted by Prof. Dr. Zuzy Anna and her team above, we can conclude that the “victory” in the economy has not yet belonged to the fishermen at sea. Nevertheless, Indonesia is a maritime country with a wealth of marine resources that can improve fishermen’s financial state if we know how to empower them.
This has caught the attention of Fishku, one of the Top 15 Teams in the Bangkit 2022 Product-Based Capstone Project. Consisting of six core members from three different universities, this team was united for the same purpose: To bring better economic livelihood to fishermen at sea.
Fishku was formed uniquely in Bangkit 2022, resulting from a random pick made by the Bangkit team. However, after teaming up, they have a noble aspiration to improve the economy of Indonesian fishermen.
Seeing the fishermen’s economic conditions inspired Fishku to create an app with the same name. Fishku is an Android- & iOS-based app that was built to digitize the process of buying and selling fish. This app exists to help fishermen and fish cultivators reach wider potential buyers.
This has caught the attention of Fishku, one of the Top 15 Teams in the Bangkit 2022 Product-Based Capstone Project. Consisting of six core members from three different universities, this team was united for the same purpose: To bring better economic livelihood to fishermen at sea.
Random Formation with Noble Aspiration
“We thought about the fishermen’s well-being a lot after visiting some fishing villages separately in our respective cities. At that time, we saw many fishermen still didn’t have a decent life. It moved us to create Fishku.” Muthia Farah Hanifa, Project Manager of Fishku, said.
Fishku will launch two applications, the first named “Fishku” for fish buyers, and the second is “Fishku Partner” for fishermen and fish cultivators. The thing that makes Fishku app special is its fish freshness detection feature. Powered by Machine Learning, Fishku can detect the freshness of fish through its eyes, bones, and flesh with 98% accuracy.
While building the app, the Fishku team encountered challenges. The first comes from Machine Learning development. They needed to collect as many data sets as possible so the fish freshness detection feature could function optimally. Their second obstacle was that each Fishku team member resided in a different city. This pushed them to communicate to maintain the workflow routinely.
Agung Gunawan, Senior ICT System Infra (Cloud Engineer) at PT Smartfren Telecom, Tbk, directly mentors this team. In addition, there is also Jacqueline J, Associate Digital Marketing Manager at GITS.id, who provides mentorship to Fishku as well.
Supported by Industry & Universities to Improve Fishermen’s Well-Being
“Although we faced some problems, we are grateful for having two mentors who helped us provide tech, business, and marketing insights for Fishku. They are encouraging and very communicative,” Rhamdan Syahrul Mubarak, Machine Learning Engineer of Fishku, said.
It isn’t only industry experts that lend their hand to Fishku. The university is also very helpful for Fishku. Dr. Sigit Priyanta, as the Head Lecturer of Fishku from Universitas Gadjah Mada, assisted them in publishing their achievements on campus media. Apart from that, Universitas Dian Nuswantoro and UIN Syarif Hidayatullah are very supportive regarding publications and administration.
As Bangkit 2022 Incubation Program participant, Fishku felt they had gained a lot from well-improved critical thinking skills and pitching experience to insights into professional meetings. Moreover, the authority of Fishku to manage the incubation fund by themselves becomes a valuable understanding for them.
After being featured on nine online media, Fishku has a big plan. They don’t only want to be known for their marketplace and fish freshness detection feature but also wish to develop a technology to detect fish distribution points at sea through satellite imagery.
Bangkit’s Significant Contribution to Fishku
“Getting the opportunity to develop Fishku as a future startup really sharpens our way of thinking and mentality as a team,” Muthia Farah Hanifa said.
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Their success in becoming one of the Top 15 Product-Based Capstone Projects makes Fishku want to inspire Bangkit 2023 prospective cohorts. In addition, they conveyed a message for those who wish to follow in Fishku’s footsteps.
Last but not least, Fishku would like to encourage Bangkit 2023 Cohorts not to be afraid to innovate. They believe many Indonesian students can pay attention to the problems around them and create solutions through technology, as they did.
“We just want to emphasize that the learning opportunities from Bangkit shouldn’t be wasted because it’s difficult to find another program with free courses and comprehensive curriculum like Bangkit. The soft skills and English training from Bangkit will also be very beneficial for you in working on capstone projects later.”
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