E-commerce roadmap is 90% ready: Indonesian comms minister
The Minister of Communications and Informatics calls for Indonesian techpreneurs to innovate through Indosat ID Byte 2015
Alexander Rusli, Indosat CEO, Shinta Dhanuwardoyo, Bubu.com CEO, and Rudiantara, Indonesia’s Minister of Communications and Informatics
Bubu.com’s ID Byte 2015 received blessings from Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Informatics as announced in a media gathering event today. With the theme of “Connected e-Conomy”, the conference, exhibition and awards’ series will help escalate progress for Indonesia’s robust digital industry.
“It is very important for Indonesian creative and innovative entrepreneurs to grow in an ecosystem that is able to support its activity … My hope is that stakeholders may contribute to the discussion about the steps we need to take to accelerate Indonesia’s economic development,” said Rudiantara, Minister of Communications and Informatics, Indonesia.
ID Byte 2015 will facilitate the Indonesian digital industry to deepen its knowledge and skills through a series of conferences, exhibitions, and seminars that peaked with the Bubu Awards, the only awards focussed on the country’s digital scene. The event will be attended by international digital practitioners such as Jamie Voris, CTO of The Walt Disney Company, and John Lagerling, VP of Business Development of Facebook.
It also includes ‘Startup Hunt’, an entrepreneurship competition with a grand prize of US$30,000 investment from FbStart, a programme from Facebook that helps tech startups to grow and maximise their potential, and a trip to join the SVA Technology Alliance (SVATA) bootcamp in Silicon Valley.
The event also received generous support from Indosat, a subsidiary of Ooredoo Group. According to Alexander Rusli, CEO of Indosat, the event is in line with the company’s mission to make Internet access and network widespread as a key part of the country’s economic development.
He also praised the growth of Indonesia’s tech startup scene and stated the urgency of having more locally developed apps in the market, regardless of its function and sector.
“The beauty of this generation is that we do not put things into boxes,” said Alexander Rusli.
Also Read: Indonesian government delays launch of e-commerce roadmap
The master plan
Rudiantara praised the massive potential that Indonesia has in terms of tech startups –some of them can be found in the village of Laguboti near Lake Toba, North Sumatra. “Can you believe that in the deep of North Sumatra a group of high school students is helping NASA conduct research? You are going to hear more of them later this year,” he said.
He then continued to elaborate by sharing the government’s grand design for e-commerce roadmap. Discussions about these plans have been around since December 2014 and it is now believed that they have reached 90 per cent completion.
“There are two main programmes that the government is focussing on now – transformation to e-governance and roadmap to e-commerce. There are concerns from various stakeholders that we have no clear direction on how to empower the digital economy,” he explained. “At the current speed, China is able to beat the US in terms of growth … All because they have a grand design!”
Rudiantara continued to touch on the many unfinished businesses with the development of the e-commerce roadmap. “There is the matter of tax and fiscal infrastructure … Even there are talks about how to fund tech startups,” he said.
He gave an example of Brunei Darussalam, which was able to fund its startup communities. “Before we can get there, we need to clarify many things. Like, if these companies experience losses, would it be considered the state’s financial loss?”
Despite the complications, the minister is optimistic about the future of Indonesian tech startups.
“If we implement about half of what China had done in the past five years, by 2020 we will be able to achieve US$136 billion worth of growth,” concluded Rudiantara.
Also Read: Indonesian e-commerce site MatahariMall.com launched with mega promos
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