My Childhood Inequality Opened My Eyes
"From birth until I turned 18, I lived in a housing complex in Jakarta, Indonesia, where living conditions varied drastically—from spacious multi-floor homes to tiny single-room dwellings with communal outhouses.
My father was a successful company executive, affording me access to private schooling, while many of my closest childhood friends had mothers earning less than $5 a day as nannies. These friends attended public schools, where alarming incidents were commonplace. I vividly recall news stories of students tragically losing their lives in inter-school conflicts, and even my own friends casually speaking of similar experiences.
Another thing that struck me profoundly was discovering in the 9th grade that my friends struggled with basic multiplication. Witnessing such disparities firsthand deeply affected me. The inequality was stark, painful, and unfair—but at that time, I felt powerless to change anything."
Fast forward to 2019. That same story helped me earn admission to the MBA program at University of California, Berkeley – Haas School of Business. While there, I began reconnecting with a question that had always lingered: What would it take to rewrite the starting line for children everywhere – especially in countries like mine?
Education has seen countless reform efforts, but early childhood care remains overlooked. Maria Montessori popularized her method more than a century ago. Since then, developed nations have built robust early childhood systems. Today, over 50–90% of children in countries like the U.S., Singapore, Japan, and the Nordics attend formal childcare. But in Indonesia, the number remains shockingly low: fewer than 0.1%¹ of children under 5 are enrolled in licensed daycare. Similarly, in many parts of the Global South, structured childcare simply doesn't exist at scale.
According to the World Bank (2021), more than 350 million children under the age of primary school lack access to any form of childcare². It's a crisis hiding in plain sight.
Meanwhile, I've spent my career contributing to how technology massively revolutionized industries: finance, logistics, mobility. But it still hasn't changed the lives of kids like the ones I grew up with.
MainStory was born in 2021 as a business school project precisely to bridge this gap. Today, it's a growing movement, powered by parents, caregivers, engineers, investors, and MainPartners who believe in giving every child – no matter where they're born – a fair start.
We see our journey in three main chapters (no pun intended):
Chapter One: Trust and Safety
Build robust technology and automation to guarantee safety and quality in every MainStory center. When parents trust us with their children, adoption follows.
Chapter Two: Access and Scale
Make our high-quality childcare framework widely accessible through integrated online and offline platforms.
Chapter Three: Empowerment and Integration
Turn MainStory into a true parenting co-pilot—integrating learning content, health tools, financial support, and services into one seamless system for families everywhere.
At MainStory, we believe childcare is the backbone of every society. It's the foundation of lifelong learning, gender equality, social mobility, and national progress.
Together, by leveraging responsible technology, we can revolutionize childcare accessibility and ensure every child—no matter their background—has the strong start in life they deserve.
Join us in rewriting the story of childcare.
