Rafael Angouw
Reeformers,
Founder and President
Rafael Angouw is a 16-year-old high school student living in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is a young entrepreneur who is the founder and president of Reeformers, a marine conservation NGO that focuses on coral transplantation and eco-dive trips and has been featured in various national news. He hopes that through his initiative, he can inspire the youth to create innovations that will make the earth a better place.
Before moving to Jakarta for high school, Rafael lived most of his life in Manado, a city known for its marine tourist attractions. Wherever he was in Manado, he was always surrounded by beautiful beaches and seas. Access to the ocean was incredibly easy. However, when he moved to Jakarta, he realized that this was no longer the case. The seawater in Jakarta is always heavily polluted and participating in marine sports such as scuba diving is almost impossible. After moving to Jakarta, he finally realized how much he took the ocean for granted. This inspired him to start his NGO called Reeformers in order to create a positive impact in the field of ocean conservation and inspire others from the young generation to take action.
Outside of school, Rafael is pursuing entrepreneurship and environmental conservation as the founder and president of Reeformers, an NGO that focuses on coral transplantation, ocean and beach cleanups, and eco-dive trips. Through transplanting corals, Reeformers is able to build new habitats for marine creatures which increases ocean biodiversity and contributes to offsetting carbon emissions. So far, Reeformers has transplanted 1,760 coral saplings and plans to transplant more soon. Each month, there are 6-8 new marine species that make Reeformers Reef (Reeformers’ coral transplantation site) their new home. Reeformers has already gotten a lot of exposure from different Indonesian National news and media such as KompasTV, TVRI, Antara News, etc. Rafael has also been invited to become a speaker at various national events. For example, in December 2022, he was invited by the Indonesian Ministry of National Development planning to speak at the 5th Annual Indonesian SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Conference about how his initiative is an example of a green economy. Reeformers is not his only entrepreneurship experience, as he is also the co-founder of Roots Artlab, a company that offers customization items for wearable luxury goods.
Rafael is enrolled in the AP (Advanced Placement) curriculum. Outside of academics, he is involved in student government, as he is currently serving as 1 of the 6 representatives of the grade’s student council. Aside from this, Rafael has been in his school’s varsity classical vocals team since 10th grade and is an honorary member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Rafael is engaged in his school’s service program as well. He is the program officer of a service club called “Laut Indah” (“Beautiful Ocean” in Indonesian) which aims to conserve the ocean through real actions such as coral transplantation and beach cleanups and through raising the awareness of local coastal communities. Rafael also has experience in the financial industry, having interned in a community bank named Bank Dana Raya and an asset management firm based in Boston called Weiss Asset Management.
In the future, Rafael wants to work in the financial industry, specifically in investment banking. However, he also wants to be involved in the sustainable energy business sector. In order to become successful, he believes that an essential step is to attend a top university where he can promote his home country in an international network as Indonesia is rich in sustainable energy resources. Rafael hopes to attract as many people as possible from other parts of the world to invest in Indonesia’s green economy sector in hopes that it will not only create a huge positive impact on the environment but also improve Indonesia’s economic growth.