Evania Larasati Utang
It’s not about limitations
it’s about seizing the opportunity in front of me
Career: Agrotechnology
Meet Evania Larasati Utang. As Evania settles into her seat for her flight from Kupang to Jakarta, she stows her small bag underneath, anxiously adjusting her seatbelt. She’s never been to Jakarta, let alone flown on an airplane. As a young woman from the remote island of Sumba, she can hardly believe that one of her dreams - to see the bustling capital city of Indonesia - is coming true. Opportunities like this are not supposed to happen to indigenous people from poor, rural communities, like hers.
Evania is not a tourist on the plane today - she is here to win. She is a finalist in the “Healthy Indonesian Cuisine with Millet” competition. Today she travels proudly for a final demonstration of her team’s product and business plan at a grand finale hosted by competition organizers Inotek and the Indika Foundation with support from the Embassy of India.
Only two months prior, Evania came across the competition and applied along with 600 other students from across Indonesia. Leveraging the creativity of Indonesian youth, the competition aims to tackle food security challenges through the development of innovative and nutritious food products. This year’s theme was millet. Only 150 applicants were selected; these were placed in teams of 10 to develop a company brand, a millet-based food product, and a business plan to bring this new product to market. Of those, only the top three teams would be invited to Jakarta for the final competition.
Evania and her team members, all from different backgrounds, cultures, and universities, worked together online to develop the brand Makaka and a new recipe for Manggulu, a traditional Sumba dish. Evania built upon the traditional recipe, combining dried bananas, and roasted, crushed peanuts wrapped in banana leaves, by incorporating millet into the mix. She took the lead in creating the video that demonstrated the process of making this new product. After submitting their business pitch deck and Evania’s video, her team scored the highest marks in all categories, qualifying for a spot in the Jakarta finale! For Evania, it was an extra honor when her team chose her as one of their representatives to go to Jakarta to cook and prepare the newly developed recipe. It was an opportunity she never expected to experience.
When the plane touches down in Jakarta, Evania is met by an Inotek representative and assigned a mentor who will guide her through the competition. She meets with her team, and they get to work, cooking and preparing their version of Manggulu. She still cannot quite believe she is here; it was only a few years ago, at home with her parents, she despaired about her future. Tomorrow, she will serve a modified dish from her Sumba culture to a panel of judges and 100 invitees. She wonders if she will be able to steady her nerves. As she drifts off to sleep, she is comforted by her childhood memories and the love and support of her parents back home.
Growing up in Sumba, an island in the Indonesian archipelago, Evania enjoyed a simple life with her parents and four siblings. Her family lived in the sparsely inhabited eastern region, where ancient customs and way of life are deeply rooted in tradition and untouched by modernity.
Her parents were rice farmers, owning a small plot of land that supported the family’s basic needs. As a child, Evania was often found in the paddy fields, planting rice alongside her parents.
She was a good student, but after completing secondary school, she grappled with finding a path forward in life. First, she tried but failed to become a policewoman. Then, her uncle, a successful chicken farmer and university lecturer, suggested a career in agriculture. Aided by his generosity to pay for her room and board, she moved to Kupang on the island of Timor, several hundred kilometers from home, and enrolled in Nusa Cendana University, majoring in Agrotechnology. The doors of opportunity were beginning to open.
At university, far away from home, Evania struggled at first with missing her family and community. Tuition was also a constant worry as her uncle’s support only applied to her living expenses. Then in her first semester, she learned about the U-GO scholarship, facilitated by Inotek. As a U-GO scholar, Evania could now focus on her studies, unburdened by financial pressures. Free of limitations, Evania fully embraced her university life, taking advantage of new chances afforded to her, including developing a new product and competing in Jakarta!
Evania awakens. It is competition day. The nerves resurface, but she thinks about her loving parents. She yearns to improve their life. She dreams of having an organic farm, and obtaining her master’s and Ph.D. She will return to her hometown to become a lecturer and farmer, to help her community improve the health of their land and produce better, more nutritious crops. She is seizing this opportunity for them.
In the competition auditorium, Evania’s Manggalu is served to 100 invitees. Holding her hands tightly behind her back, she steps in front of the three judges and answers their questions about the process of making the new millet-based product and the story behind the cuisine. After all the teams finish their presentations, Evania waits anxiously for the results. Will the judges see the business potential in Manggalu? Can this food, a nod to her Sumba culture, be recognized for its originality, taste, and use of healthy ingredients?
It’s time. The judges have come to a decision. “The winner of the ‘Indonesian Food Using Millet’ category is . . . Manggalu!” Evania and her team clinch the top prize, receiving the highest score. The judges are impressed with the potential for their product to become a business. Evania is overwhelmed with happiness and pride.
Back at university, her professors invite Evania to share her experience in Jakarta. This time, she brushes aside the nerves, steps up to the podium, and confidently delivers her presentation to her classmates. She finishes by encouraging them to seize every opportunity, never bowing to limitations. For Evania, every door that has opened she has fearlessly stepped through, on her way to a brighter future.