Erick Thohir Supports Intensify Investment in Startups

Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir emphasized the commitment of the Ministry of SOEs in supporting the development of the digital economy ecosystem and startups or start-ups, in addition to supporting the MSME sector.

This was conveyed by Erick during a discussion with digital startups and business incubators entitled ‘Bali Digitalpreneur Meetup’ at the STMIK Primakara campus, Denpasar, Bali, on Sunday (19/9).

“Don’t be afraid, we support startups to be a big part of the BUMN transformation program,” Erick said, as quoted on Monday (20/9).

Erick said that one form of support is that SOEs have recently formed venture capital and intensively invested in startups.

“One form of Key Performance Indicator (KPI), we are committed to investing in 50 startup companies. We will massively support startups in Indonesia with investment strength,” said Erick. Erick detailed several SOEs and the number of startups that have received investment from SOEs.

One of the startup requirements is to be able to win the competition and is needed by the Indonesian people. Startups are also expected to have special standards, namely having a good business model. Then, the start-up business model is able to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of SOEs.

“Telkomsel has 15, BRI 15, Mandiri Capital 15, I also gave BNI the opportunity to start entering, but it’s enough 5. Because SOEs are customary if given a lot of investment, all startups will fire (burn money),” said Erick.

BUMN Program for Startup Plans to be Launched in December

Erick said, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will launch a major program from the Ministry of SOEs related to startups in the second week of December. “After launching, we will train 10 thousand startups to be sustainable. Then invite 10 top investors,” continued Erick.

Erick revealed an interesting fact in Indonesia when talking about entrepreneurship, the percentage is low, but when it comes to the number of startups, they are number 4 in the world.

“This is an interesting thing. Our startup has tremendous potential, a large market and the majority (startup founders) are the younger generation,” continued Erick.

On this occasion, Erick also reviewed the startup products made by STMIK Primakara and a number of business incubators in Bali. He admitted that he was impressed with the innovation of startups from Bali.

Erick appreciated STMIK Primaka who had made extraordinary innovations by thinking about the digitalization era which would continue to be a big wave.

“We must become champions in this digitalization era. One of the things we have to improve is human capital. This is the toughest challenge,” said Erick

Digital Startups Become an Opportunity to Improve Indonesia’s Digital Economy

Erick assessed that digital talent and digital startups are important to work on the digital economy market opportunities in Indonesia. So that Indonesia is not only a target market but also a major player and winner of the competition.

The head of STMIK Primakara Made Artana said that with the decline of the tourism industry, there is now a shared awareness that it is very necessary for Bali to build complementary industries.

“The Digital Creative Industry is one industry that can be developed considering this is an industry that will continue to grow in the future,” said Artana.

On the other hand, said Artana, Bali has great potential considering that Bali is in an international environment with tens to hundreds of thousands of digital nomads, there are many direct flights to big cities in the world, adequate infrastructure, good quality of life, balance life in the world. 

“Bali also has many creative talents who grew up in a creative culture,” said Artana. It is known, STMIK Primakara is an IT Campus since its establishment which has positioned itself as a Technopreneurship Campus / Startup Campus and as a driver to revive the Startup ecosystem in Bali.

STMIK Primakara since the last 7 years has regularly held startup events in Bali, such as Startup Camp, Bali StartUp Expo and Global Games Jam.