Spice Islands Gelato & Cafe
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The Challenge
In Indonesia, young people—especially women and mothers—face significant barriers to accessing stable and meaningful employment. Many lack affordable opportunities for higher education or vocational training, limiting their ability to develop specialty skills such as baking or culinary arts that could lead to sustainable livelihoods. According to Al Jazeera (2025), “Indonesia has 44 million youths, but it’s struggling to get them jobs,” with much of the available work being informal, unstable, and poorly compensated. For lower-income families, this lack of access to quality education and formal employment results in a cycle of financial insecurity, where individuals must often forgo healthcare or delay critical life decisions due to economic hardship.
In places like Ternate and the wider North Maluku region, many families are impacted by labor migration. It is common for men to leave their homes in search of better-paying jobs in the booming mining sector. While the industry has become a cornerstone of the regional economy, it has also introduced new dangers and social costs. As The Jakarta Post (2025) reports, “the nickel industry in Indonesia’s North Maluku suffocates local villagers,” noting that while mining generates state revenue and jobs, locals often bear the burden of environmental damage and economic inequality. This migration pattern strains families, disrupts community cohesion, and leaves women and children with fewer support systems at home.
Another major challenge in North Maluku is low financial literacy and limited economic planning, with many residents living day-to-day and struggling to manage sudden expenses. The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has acknowledged this gap, emphasizing the need to “improve financial literacy in Indonesia’s 3T [frontier, outermost, least developed] areas” (Antara News, 2024). At the same time, local industries like farming and culinary arts remain underdeveloped. Farmers face shrinking profits due to reliance on middlemen, discouraging investment and innovation. This combination of weak financial management, underutilized local ingredients, and inequitable market access continues to stifle Ternate’s potential for sustainable, community-based economic growth.
A Solution
Spice Islands Gelato & Cafe envisions creating a unique dessert and cafe experience in Indonesia, that celebrates local ingredients—especially spices—while generating lasting community impact. By blending Western culinary expertise with the rich resources of North Maluku, the project aims to provide quality jobs, empower farmers, promote financial literacy, and offer free English learning opportunities. The ultimate goal is a socially responsible business that uplifts the local community through economic opportunity, sustainable practices, and education.
Each dessert and cup of coffee is crafted to highlight the contributions of local farmers, who supply the fresh ingredients that define the cafe’s flavors. Its team uses Western culinary and language expertise to mentor staff and host free English-learning events, while also strengthening relationships with farmers through fair-purchase agreements. Additionally, the cafe provides microloans to small entrepreneurs and families, helping them build financial resilience and a brighter future within their own community.
Business Activities Geared Towards Ending Poverty, Providing Quality Education, Economic Growth, and Responsible Consumption:
Target 1.4 Promote and support that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
Target 4.4 Increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship (Increase the number of youth and adults who have vocational and language skills needed to obtain employment and decent jobs.)
Target 8.3 Promote and support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services
8.5 Promote full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
Target 12.2 Promote the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
Measured by:
Number of microloans given each quarter?
Number of microloans paid back each quarter?
Number of English/language events held or partnered with each quarter?
Number of locals who attended English/language events each quarter?
Number of trainings held for employees each quarter? Please describe the training held.
Number of full time, part-time, and/or temporary workers employed each quarter receiving a local living wage or higher?
Show how much money flowed to this area that would not have otherwise without the project for economic growth. List the quarterly expenses (including salaries, but not your own)
Work towards farming cooperatives or peer mentorship groups formed each quarter. (1-2 year goal - discuss plans being formed to work towards this metric)
Amount of cost of goods purchased each quarter from local farmers during harvest? USD
Spice Islands Gelato & Cafe envisions creating a unique dessert and cafe experience in Indonesia, that celebrates local ingredients—especially spices—while generating lasting community impact. By blending Western culinary expertise with the rich resources of North Maluku, the project aims to provide quality jobs, empower farmers, promote financial literacy, and offer free English learning opportunities. The ultimate goal is a socially responsible business that uplifts the local community through economic opportunity, sustainable practices, and education.
What Does Your Donation Go Towards?
Securing a Building
Renovations
Freezers/Ice Cream Equipment
Ovens & Other Cafe Machines
Initial Wages for Employees
