Jakarta, Feb 15 (Antara) - Indonesia is upbeat at its potential to develop its startups into unicorn firms, a company with a valuation reaching US$1 billion.
The Ministry of Industry is optimistic about the potential of startups to become fast-growing firms. Therefore, it is partnering with startups to boost the growth of the manufacturing sector.
The government needs to collect data to develop these companies. As regards, the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) will compile the data on the startups investment in the country.
The development of startups potential is evident in the development of Traveloka, Bukalapak, Go-jeck, and Tokopedia, which are online service and commerce firms. These firms are able to develop fast, with valuations reaching trillions of rupiah in a relatively short period.
Startups also have big potentials even in the education field. Minister of Communications and Informatics Rudiantara, for example, said that startups in the field of education have the potential to become unicorn firms.
"We have to follow the potential to become a unicorn in Indonesia, first in the field of education," Rudiantara remarked at the Indonesia-Australia Digital Forum 2018 event in Jakarta on Thursday.
The minister is sure that Indonesian pioneer companies, which will become unicorn firms, will reach more than five in 2019. Moreover, until now, there are already four unicorn firms, namely Traveloka, Bukalapak, Go-jek, and Tokopedia. "Now there are four unicorns, and the government believes that in 2019, there will be more than five unicorns, especially with the 'next Indonesia unicorn' program that brings together a feasible startup with potential investors," he stated.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Industry is partnering with startup companies to work together to develop the technology needed by the national industry to face the digital era.
"The collaboration of research and development institutions is key to build talented youths, who are the assets of the nation, to enter the global chain and be able to compete at the international level," Head of Industry Research and Development Agency (BPPI) of the Ministry of Industry Ngakan Timur Antara said here on Thursday (Feb 15).
The Industry Ministry always encourages the development of domestic startups, especially those supporting the digital industry sector. "They can gain access to resources owned by Ministry of Industry," he noted. Antara said he had visited DTECH Engineering in Salatiga, Central Java, and had given an appreciation to the startup which was founded by Arfian Fuadi.
This startup company has been working on designs for hundreds of projects from world-class companies, such as ultralight aircraft, pens, bridges, car chassis, jet engine bracket design, and jet engine inspection design.
To that end, the Ministry of Industry seeks to collaborate with DTECH Engineering to cooperate with the Center for Metals and Machinery Agency (BBLM) in Bandung, West Java.
The Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto, who attended the World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos, Switzerland, recently stated that the Indonesian government is focusing on cooperation with a number of parties to work together to grow startups that could become a unicorn in Indonesia.
"So, there is a linked match program for entrepreneurs from startups," he explained.
Regarding the development of innovation in Indonesia in the face of Industry 4.0, the minister explained that this fourth industrial revolution system has been running in a number of large-scale national manufacturing, such as automotive sector as well as food and beverages sector.
"For small and medium industry (IKM), we have launched IKM e-Smart program," he noted.
The government projects Indonesia to become Southeast Asia's largest digital economy by 2020 by targeting thousand technopreneurs, business valuations of up to $100 billion, and a total e-commerce value of $130 billion.
"Its backbone is an applicable research center, such as Techno Park," Hartarto said.
The minister believes that with a very large population, Indonesia can maintain the potential of digital economy in the future in line with the development of technology and social media.
For example, the penetration of internet users in Indonesia reached 133 million people, or about 50 percent of the total population.
Furthermore, active users of social media reach 115 million people, or about 44 percent of the total population. The use of smartphones has also reached 371 million, or 141 percent of the total population.
Regarding data, the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) will collect investment data received by a number of digital startup companies, following the massive amount of news about capital injected by a number of giant companies to local startups.
"If we look at the announcement from e-commerce or startup companies, there were a lot of them. They hit trillions of investments and even tens of trillions, but this figure is still not being reflected in our database," said Head of the Investment Coordination Board Thomas Trikasih Lembong in the presentation on the investment realization in 2017 in Jakarta on Tuesday (Jan 30).
The massive growth phenomenon of the digital sector was so sudden that it only began about two years ago. However, he noted that it does not mean that it had not emerged earlier, but, at the time, there were only a small amount of them.
"The number jumped to billions of dollars suddenly. I honestly think we were a bit overwhelmed, and we often had to classify them into business sectors as they are so diverse; for example, Go-jek as a portal or a transportation corporation" he said.
Go-jek is a corporation, founded in Indonesia, which connects passengers with transportation means. They also provide delivery, courier, and other services.
In the food sector, the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), for instance, has launched a digital platform for Indonesian food startup companies, in an effort to encourage the development of startup businesses in the culinary subsector.
The digital platform www.foodstartupindonesia.com was launched in Jakarta on Friday simultaneously with the Food Startup Indonesia (FSI) 2018, which kick-started its digital platform registrations until June 26.
"What we want to do at FSI is build a culinary industry ecosystem from upstream to downstream," Bekraf's deputy for capital access Fadjar Hutomo revealed.
He added that FSI, part of Bekraf, will work to enhance the culinary subsector by connecting the food startups with an integrated culinary ecosystem and providing access to nonbanking capital.
FSI has not only built a database of 2,005 creative culinary businesses from all over Indonesia but has also managed to curate 150 Indonesian culinary startups. There were three major culinary startups born from the event, and one of them is exporting its products to the United Kingdom and the United States. ***3***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE/H-YH
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 15-02-2018 20:12:1 |
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