Janu co-founded Sayur Sleman, a social enterprise that upskills rural youth and smallholder farmers in Indonesia through agribusiness training and smart precision farming.
The social enterprise began during the COVID-19 pandemic when Janu, then a junior high school principal from a farming family, launched an online vegetable platform connecting farmers and vegetable traders in traditional markets with customers. He later expanded into agribusiness training, regenerative farming, smart hydroponics, and food donation for vulnerable families. In 2023, Sayur Sleman Academy was formally launched alongside a hydroponic greenhouse venture growing melons using precision farming technology. The long-term goal is to improve food security across Indonesia and Southeast Asia by training a new generation of market-ready farmers.
The social enterprise has reached 69,325 farmers with online hydroponics training workshops, and a further 1,600 farm 'visitors' with in-person courses. An additional 75 farmers across multiple provinces have been supported with direct support to implement hydroponics on their own farm, including access to capital. The Sayur Sleman Giving initiative has also delivered vegetable donations to 700 vulnerable families across three cities and produced 1.6 tonnes of melon in hydroponic greenhouses, saving an estimated 59,250 litres of water.
Janu attended the 2024 Summit in Montréal as an IKEA Social Entrepreneurship Scholar, one of two selected globally that year. He subsequently joined the Action Accelerator programme and was selected as one of its Practice Pitch Competition winners. He returned to the 2025 Summit in Munich as a Returning Ambassador before being appointed Coordinating Ambassador
“One of my takeaways from One Young World is don’t think too small, think big. That is what motivated me to open my horizon bigger after the Summit.”
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