The Bangkit Academy program, an initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), in collaboration with Google, Gojek, Tokopedia, and Traveloka, continues to be one of the leading programs of Independent Learning (MBKM). This program offers intensive training in IT and soft skills with three main learning paths: Machine Learning, Mobile Development, and Cloud Computing. With support from Stanford University through the University Innovation Fellow program, Bangkit Academy has become a place for students to develop and create innovative solutions.
From the 28,000 applicants of more than 500 universities throughout Indonesia, only around 3,000 students successfully passed the selection and were invited to join. Interestingly, 30% of the applicants were women, and around 29% came from non-IT/CS backgrounds, demonstrating the inclusivity of the program.
One of the students who successfully passed was Kaamil Nailal Muna, a student from the Faculty of Administrative Sciences, class of 2021. Despite coming from a non-IT background, Kaamil succeeded in becoming Bangkit Ambassador 2024 and together with his team created an innovative application called Adoptify. Adoptify is an application that facilitates the adoption of abandoned animals, especially cats and dogs, in the Jabodetabek and Malang areas.
Adoptify used to be the final project of Bangkit Academy, which then received funding from Google and Dikti for further product development,” explained Kaamil. Kaamil attended Bangkit Academy starting from August – December 2023 and continued with incubation from January – August 2024.
The Adoptify team itself consists of several students from universities in Indonesia consisting of 7 team members and 2 interns, including: Kaamil as Chief Executive Officer – UB, Alvita as Chief Marketing Officer – UB, Laudzak as Chief Product Officer – UB, Maqila as Chief Technology Officer (Back end) – ITN Malang, Reihan as Chief Technology Officer (Mobile dev) – ITN Malang, Zainul as Chief Operational Officer – ITN Malang, Reza as Chief Financial Officer – UNS, Nami as Marketing and Partnership Intern – UB, Lathifah as Marketing and Partnership Intern – UB
The background of Kaamil Team creating Adoptify was because the problem of abandoned animals was rampant, such as animal abuse, dumping cats or dogs on the street. Kaamil Team conducted research based on scientific studies and then confirmed the truth of the problem with existing facts.
“After that, we also checked with the user whether there was a problem with the survey research, a total of more than 150 respondents from the Jabodetabek and Malang areas filled out the survey. They said that more than 94% of them had problems with abandoned cats/dogs that needed solutions,” explained Kaamil.
Currently, Adoptify offers two features, namely: First Adoption: This feature provides a pet adoption service specifically for dogs and cats that is integrated with fosters in the Jabodetabek and Malang areas. With high credibility, users must fill in their real personal data, fill out a form from the foster, and sign a letter on a stamp. The goal is for users to be truly committed to caring for animals well. Second – Visual Pet Wellbeings: This feature is designed to make it easier for users to care for pets, with reminder features to feed, bathe, clean cages, vaccinate, and record the pet’s medical history. In addition, this feature provides an alarm notification if the user does not open the Adoptify application.
Kaamil explained that the Adoptify application is already on the Playstore, so it is ready to be marketed to anyone who needs cat/dog adoption services.
In the development journey of Adoptify, Kaamil and his team faced various challenges, both internally and externally. “There were a lot of obstacles, starting from the internal team. As a team leader, I have to be able to stabilize my team, solve internal problems first before continuing the work, because if the internal is not stable, the work will be hampered,” explained Kaamil.
At the end of the interview, Kaamil expressed his hope that Adoptify can help reduce the number of abandoned animals and increase public awareness of the importance of animal care. “Hopefully, with Adoptify, abandoned animals can be well cared for, the community that cares will increase, and public awareness of abandoned animals will increase. I am sure, if we do good, the results will be very good,” added Kaamil.
With Adoptify, Kaamil and his team have not only created solutions to the problem of abandoned animals, but have also proven that innovation can be born from various disciplines. (dilla/WDD/UB PR/ Trans. Iir)
