A total of 142 participants officially graduated from the 2025 Paradigta Academy of Indonesia (API) Entrepreneurship Class, held nationally on 17 December 2025. These graduates came from seven regions: North Labuhanbatu, North Sumatra; East Ogan Komering Ulu, South Sumatra; Wonosobo, Central Java; Kebumen, East Java; Gianyar, Bali; Balangan, South Kalimantan; and Ternate, North Maluku.
Over six months, the participants—referred to as “akademia”—underwent a tiered learning process that combined classroom sessions, field practice, and structured assignments. They were mentored by 25 facilitators, all of whom are grassroots women leaders from their local communities.
The Paradigta Academy was initiated by the PEKKA Foundation in 2016 to build women’s leadership capacity at the community level. The program specifically targets women heads of households, marginalized women, and women with disabilities. The word “paradigta,” derived from Old Javanese, means “a woman who stands firm”—a reflection of the resilience often seen in grassroots women navigating complex social and economic realities.
In her graduation address, Nani Zulminarni, Chair of the API National Steering Committee and Founder and Executive Chair of the PEKKA Foundation, emphasized the urgency of such education in today’s rapidly changing world.
“While rapid development brings progress, it often leaves certain groups behind in widening gaps,” she noted. “We need a deeply rooted and sustainable social movement… beginning in families, communities, and society at large—powered by optimal entrepreneurial capacity.”
API uses a Community-Based Action Training model—leadership education for women delivered regularly at sub-district and district levels. Participants are nominated and supported by their villages, including through Village Funds. Learning is conducted through a blend of classroom sessions, hands-on fieldwork, and mentoring. Since late 2021, API’s entrepreneurship stream has been further strengthened with support from several programs, including INKLUSI. By the end of 2025, the program had reached over 2,000 alumni.
Paradigta Academy: Entrepreneurship as a Collective Movement
API’s Entrepreneurship Class curriculum is designed to position entrepreneurship as a tool for social transformation. It is built around six core modules: Empowered Women, Women as Economic Actors, Business Skills, Women as Heads of Households, Economic Movements, and a Final Project. The curriculum encourages participants not only to run businesses but to understand their roles within wider social systems, organize community efforts, and build local economic networks.
In her video address, Kate Shanahan, Team Leader of the INKLUSI Program, highlighted the graduation as a celebration of both completion and journey.
“These women have been learning while taking care of their families and running their businesses. That is no small feat,” she said.
Shanahan underscored that API graduates have proven capable of stimulating local economies, connecting communities to government empowerment programs, and strengthening solidarity among women.
“You are agents of change in your communities,” she affirmed. “Keep learning, keep supporting one another, and believe that big changes often begin with small, collective steps.”
She also described the graduation as a symbolic “return” of the akademia to their families and communities—now equipped with new tools to lead local transformation. INKLUSI extended its appreciation to the PEKKA Foundation, the mentors, alumni, local governments, and development partners who have supported this journey.
Echoing Shanahan, Nani closed her remarks with a hopeful message.
“May your learning experience at Paradigta Academy serve as an empowering foundation,” she said, “so that each of you can become a leader of change—in your families, communities, and society at large.”
The 2025 graduation of API’s Entrepreneurship Class affirms one thing: when grassroots women are provided with meaningful learning opportunities, supported by their communities, and trusted with leadership, inclusive and equitable economic transformation can truly grow from the ground up.
