There's no such thing as being too late to pursue knowledge and contribute for Annisa Anindita Zein, founder and Head of the Community Initiative at Lab Belajar Ibu (LBI), a learning lab for mothers. Affectionately known as Dita, she not only inspires housewives to continue learning and creating but also serves as a role model in managing personal and family finances.
Besides being a mother of one, Dita holds a double degree and also a Master of Social Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. After obtaining both prestigious degrees, Dita faced an extraordinary challenge in balancing household responsibilities while ensuring that the knowledge she acquired benefited many people. This dilemma is also experienced by many women or housewives in Indonesia.
This concern led Dita and several other LPDP alumni friends to establish LBI in 2021. LBI is a non-profit community that provides a platform for mothers who still want to continue learning and make tangible contributions to the environment and society. Currently, there are almost 500 active LBI members who actively discuss and advocate for the importance of empowered and productive women.
Dita also dared to start her own business. Armed with strong knowledge of Japan, the hijab business she pioneered successfully penetrated the Japanese market. However, her extraordinary busyness managing LBI and her family forced Dita to temporarily set aside her hijab business.
For financial matters, Dita uses Jago Syariah to help her manage the finances of both the organization and her family. Jago Syariah was chosen as a form of her commitment as a Muslimah to avoid riba (usury).
"Jago Syariah is my first Shariah bank. Previously, I used a conventional bank for business transactions," said Dita.
Dita admits that all community transactions are entrusted through the Jago Syariah Shared Pockets. This feature allows community managers to collaborate within one Pocket. In the Shared Pocket, everything can be more transparent, and everyone can participate in overseeing activities within the Pocket, including adding money to the Pocket.
"I am really helped by the functions of Jago's pockets because financial management becomes clearer," explained Dita.
Dita holds a lot of humanitarian aid funds for university graduates' communities in Japan, and the Jago Syariah Shared Pockets greatly helps her and the members to track openly. Not only community funds, but Dita also uses Shared Pockets for family needs, especially her and her husband's expenses. She also uses other Pocket features for financial arrangements.
"I used to keep financial records using tables. It took time and was difficult. Now, financial management is enough with Jago Syariah. For each need, I allocate it in each pocket, and the entire transaction history is recorded. In addition, with the Spending Analysis feature, I can monitor finances and know where the leaks are," she said.
