Muh Agung Saputra
As CEO and founder of Surplus Indonesia, Muh Agung Saputra has helped tens of thousands of restaurants, cafes and small businesses redistribute their unsold produce at affordable prices, reducing waste, food insecurity and pollution.
Muh Agung Saputra
As CEO and founder of Surplus Indonesia, Muh Agung Saputra has helped tens of thousands of restaurants, cafes and small businesses redistribute their unsold produce at affordable prices, reducing waste, food insecurity and pollution.
Growing up in Indonesia, in the northern province of Papua, Agung Saputra’s family often faced food shortages but when he later moved to the capital, Jakarta, he was shocked by the level of food waste in the city. He says that this early exposure to systemic food access challenges became the foundation of his entrepreneurial journey.
“Indonesia has one of the biggest food waste issues in the world,” Agung says. The United Nations Environment Programme agrees – Indonesia is reportedly only second behind Saudi Arabia in food waste production, with total annual wastage reaching 23 to 48 million tonnes. It’s a significant issue for the country, contributing to food insecurity, pollution and environmental degradation.
And it’s an issue that Surplus Indonesia, a climate tech platform founded by Agung, is helping to resolve. The company began life as a food rescue app, taking overstocked and near-expiry food from businesses and offering it to consumers at discounted prices. While reducing food waste and improving food access for low- and middle-income households, the app allows tens of thousands of small businesses to offer their excess produce to over one million users.
The path to Surplus Indonesia
After graduating from Bandung Institute of Technology with a BSc in Biology, Agung was offered a chance to study in the Netherlands. “But it was my dream to go to the UK,” he smiles. The MSc in Environmental Technology seemed to be the best starting point for realising his vision. “I wanted to look at policy, rather than spend time a laboratory,” he explains. His thesis explored food chains, modelling different environmental outcomes based on changes in diet.
Among 150 international students that year, Agung was the only one from Indonesia – his first time away from home. One of his proudest achievements was overcoming the language barrier, and ‘mingling with everyone.’ As well as football, he picked up a love of racquet sports – badminton, squash and padel – which he still plays in the evenings in Jakarta to relieve stress.
Agung in Imperial's Environmental Technology Football Club
Agung in Imperial's Environmental Technology Football Club
Environmental Analysis field trip to Wales
Environmental Analysis field trip to Wales
During his studies, he was able to explore the subject of food waste, behavioural barriers, and environmental impact, and began drafting ideas for the Surplus app. He was encouraged by Dr Martin Head, Senior Teaching Fellow at Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy, who told him to go for it, but take his time. “He told me I could choose to start a career before becoming an entrepreneur,” says Agung.
He also joined Imperial Entrepreneurs, who showed him how to pitch: “I learned how to create a business deck, and how to pitch to people using very simple language, so that everyone can grasp what I want to do.”
Afterwards, he says, he would have loved to stay and start a career in the UK, but he returned to Indonesia to be with family. There, he quickly realised that if he wanted a job in climate technology, he was going to have to create one himself.
Resilience and perseverance
Moving to Jakarta, Agung was struck by how much food was being wasted. Driven by this experience, and armed with the knowledge he gained at Imperial, Agung began to explore scalable ways to change attitudes to waste management across the country, motivated to create a business that was both commercially viable and deeply mission-driven. In 2020, during the pandemic, he set up Surplus – an app giving cafes, restaurants and businesses the opportunity to post their unsold stock for customers to purchase at affordable prices.
His efforts were met with immense resistance. There is a stigma attached to waste in Indonesia, he explains. His ideas were often met with mockery, to the extent that he began to wonder why he was trying to do anything at all.
I was questioning myself. Why am I still trying to solve this problem? Why not just give up? But then, if I didn’t start, I didn’t know who would solve this problem.
Agung decided to dedicate himself to the challenge. “Back in 2020, this work was not sexy,” he smiles. “But I thought that through Surplus, we could educate consumers, educate the market, about waste. And eventually, we started to get through to people.”
Initially using his own money, Agung has raised over a million dollars in combined equity investment and non-dilutive grant funding. He wants to inspire a community of fellow eco-entrepreneurs to follow in his footsteps, resolving different pieces of the climate crisis puzzle – Indonesia has a major problem with disposable plastic pollution, for example, which he hopes someone might step forward to work on.
But Surplus has a large ripple effect, with major impact beyond the people who benefit from access to affordable food. Part of Agung’s typical day, as well as working with businesses and marketing to consumers, is working with government departments, who use data from Surplus to build their own road maps for reducing carbon footprints. He wants to see more regulation of waste in Indonesia, and in the long term he hopes to be able to help shape policy in this area. Beyond Indonesia, he has recently advised a group in Malaysia, who are trying to replicate his work there.
Start early, start small
“I always say to young eco entrepreneurs, you must start early. Because we don't have much time. And it's not about the technology, it's not about the app. It's not about AI. Just create a small solution first. And if it helps people, there will be real impact and then you can scale it up. But start early and start small. That's my advice.”
In 2024, Surplus began expanding their offering from food waste into fashion, electronics and other products, shifting consumption into a circular economy. Building on the success of the app, Agung devised offline projects including mobile juice units that upcycle imperfect fruits into nutritious drinks, and Imperfashion, a resale outlet selling overstock and defective clothing. Between them, these ventures employ around 100 staff including operational and frontline roles. He also developed Surplus AI, a predictive inventory liquidation and expiry tracking tool that helps retailers and distributors to minimise loss.
Start early, start small
“I always say to young eco entrepreneurs, you must start early. Because we don't have much time. And it's not about the technology, it's not about the app. It's not about AI. Just create a small solution first. And if it helps people, there will be real impact and then you can scale it up. But start early and start small. That's my advice.”
In 2024, Surplus began expanding their offering from food waste into fashion, electronics and other products, shifting consumption into a circular economy. Building on the success of the app, Agung devised offline projects including mobile juice units that upcycle imperfect fruits into nutritious drinks, and Imperfashion, a resale outlet selling overstock and defective clothing. Between them, these ventures employ around 100 staff. He also developed Surplus AI, a predictive inventory liquidation and expiry tracking tool that helps retailers and distributors to minimise loss.
Beyond the accolades
Success has brought multiple awards and accolades for both Agung and Surplus. So has there been a milestone that means he can sit back and celebrate?
Being named in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia in 2024 was a highlight for Agung. At 29, he says he just scraped in, ahead of 100,00 other nominations. “It was great to have our work recognised,” he says. Surplus has also been acknowledged with awards including the ASEAN Digital Awards 2025 (Gold Winner), Google Play App for Goods (Honourable mention) 2023 and as Most Impactful Enterprise Asia-Pacific, IIX 2022. He’s surprised and delighted to receive the Alumni Entrepreneur Award from Imperial.
But more important than any award is the real-world impact.
My metrics for success are really about how many people benefit from what we do.
“When people use the Surplus Indonesia app and give feedback or ratings that they share, so their friends and family know about Surplus – that fills me with gratitude. Knowing we helped people access food in an affordable way.
“We have helped a million low- and middle-income members of the population to access food – that’s the impact we have.” But Agung is not finished yet. “My vision is to reach five million”, he says.
Agung is Vice President of the Imperial College Alumni Association Indonesia, playing a pivotal role in connecting alumni across the country to build a community, share knowledge and support recent Imperial graduates returning to Indonesia. He hopes to inspire the next generation to start an environmental movement. “I want Gen Z to be able to speak to government, create social campaigns, and fight the climate crisis. I hope that will become my legacy after building Surplus.”
Agung celebrating with friends from Imperial
Agung celebrating with friends from Imperial
Words by Sarah Webb | Photography by Yunaidi Joepoet | Editing and design by Ellie Cawthera
Imperial's Alumni Awards recognise the outstanding achievements of our alumni community and the variety of ways they are making a real impact across the globe.
The Alumni Entrepreneur Award recognises and celebrates innovative and creative alumni entrepreneurs who can demonstrate commercial success, growth and impact.
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