Jakarta. The Youth 20 or Y20 on Sunday held a forum to give its youth delegates a better understanding of the creative economy sector and how it helps foster a more inclusive society.

This talk show was part of the Y20 fourth pre-summit in Manokwari, West Papua. Many young people are currently working in the creative economy sector. Some are also involved in creative social enterprises. According to Camelia Harahap, the head of arts and creative industries at British Council Indonesia, creative and social enterprises contribute to inclusion by providing decent work for all.

"Creative and social enterprises are creating jobs faster than other sectors, for young people, women, and people with disabilities. Many youth-led creative and social enterprises are also more likely to focus on solving the SDGs [sustainable development goals], in particular, SDG 8 in creating decent work," Camelia told the conference.

Dissa Ahdanisa, the founder of social enterprise Fingertalk, revealed that there were 11 million people with disabilities in Indonesia. Of that number, 1.5 million are underprivileged youths who have limited access to education and job opportunities. This low unemployment rate prompted Dissa to establish Fingertalk, which started off as a cafe that hires deaf employees.

At the cafe, customers can order food in sign language. Fingertalk also now includes a bakery and a car wash to give more job opportunities for youth with disabilities.

Jovial da Lopez, the chief creative officer at Narasi, shared his experience as a content creator -- a profession that is in great demand among youth. Jovial along with his brother Andovi first gained popularity as Youtubers with the channel SkinnyIndonesian24. The contents were not only creative but also helped introduce and spread Indonesian culture to worldwide audiences.

"When you become a content creator, you should really just create content that resonates with you. This is most likely because of my upbringing but my mother was a diplomat. So I have been exposed to just promoting Indonesia wherever I go. I guess when we made a Youtube channel, that kind of spirit and energy lingered. So we continued on doing that, but we tried to modernize things," Jovial said.

Pichit Virankabutra, the deputy director at Thailand Creative Economy Agency, said that creative economy development encompasses creative talents, creative businesses, and creative districts. One of Thailand's strategies to generate creative talents is providing innovative business services that connect to a network of educational institutions.

“So this will satellite directly to the locations where students work and study design and creative economy, creative industries. [This will] help them connect directly with the resources, capacity-building, and skill development," Pichit said.