I Putu Wiraguna
Founder
OUR STORY
The Story of the Five Pillar Initiative
A movement that began in Bali's villages — and never left them.
Local in Spirit, Global in Inspiration
Five Pillar Initiative is a nonprofit foundation (yayasan) born in Bali. It began in 2014 as Wirausaha Bali — a small effort to help village youth build real skills — and grew into something larger: a platform that empowers local people to live sustainably and strengthen their communities through everyday action.
Our name comes from our framework — Community, Environment, Education, Culture, and Economy — the five pillars that shape every initiative we support.
At the heart of the model is the Local Hero: a changemaker, a role model, a catalyst for transformation. Not through grand gestures, but through meaningful, community-rooted work.
Our Vision & Mission
OUR VISION & MISSION
Vision
An ecosystem where Local Heroes have the capacity, network, and resources to create lasting social, economic, and environmental impact.
Mission
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01
Identify and support Local Heroes creating positive change in their communities.
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02
Build their capacity through training, knowledge, and skills.
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03
Connect communities, partners, and stakeholders in collaboration.
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04
Advance sustainable local initiatives across society, economy, culture, and environment.
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05
Open access to opportunities, resources, and support so their impact can grow.
How We Work: The 6 Cs
We practice a community-centered, collaborative approach built on connection, active participation, and lasting impact. Change sticks when individuals, ideas, and resources meet through shared commitment — so six principles guide every program we run:
01
Collaborate
We never work alone. Programs are co-created with communities, never delivered to them.
02
Connect
We link people to people. Local Heroes meet mentors, markets, and each other.
03
Create
We build what's missing. Where a village needs something that doesn't exist, we make it together.
04
Cultivate
We grow capability, not dependency. Training and knowledge outlive any single project.
05
Commit
We stay for the long term. We measure in years, not events.
06
Change
We measure what actually shifts. Impact is verified, reported, and owned by the community.
From Wirausaha Bali to Five Pillar
2014
Wirausaha Bali
Our foundation is born with one idea: village youth have talent worth investing in. We start with skills training in rural Bali.
2015
Becoming Five Pillar
The vision widens to whole communities: youth skills, community empowerment, local capacity. For four years, every activity is self-funded.
2019
Five Pillar Experiences
Foundation activities pause; the mission continues as a social enterprise. Five Pillar Experiences pioneers regenerative village tourism — and coins the name "Local Heroes" for the village entrepreneurs it works with.
2025
Yayasan Lima Pillar Nusantara
The foundation returns, re-registered with a renewed vision: strengthen and connect Local Heroes across Indonesia's communities.
MEET OUR FOUNDER
Meet Our Founder: I Putu Wiraguna
Putu grew up in a farming family in rural West Bali and watched mass tourism take more from villages than it gave back. He founded Five Pillar to reverse that flow — first through skills training, then through regenerative tourism, and now through a foundation that backs the changemakers villages already have. He is an Obama Foundation Leader and a WEF Global Shaper.
"The people best placed to change a village are the people who call it home."
The Team
Siti Ivadhea Harrisa
Community Manager
Nabawi Danadyksa
Project & Impact Officer
Two Organizations, One Mission
Five Pillar Experiences is our sister social enterprise — an ethical tour operator whose journeys with Local Heroes helped rebuild this foundation. The Initiative is the nonprofit arm: it finds, trains, and funds Local Heroes; Experiences brings travelers and revenue to their villages. Impact flows both ways.
Visit Five Pillar Experiences ↗Accountability, in Writing
Registration
Yayasan Lima Pillar Nusantara · Reg. No. — · Denpasar, Bali.
Reporting
Every project publishes its outcomes. Impact data is dated and verified before we publish it.
Policies
Safeguarding and privacy policies.