Indonesia, A Haven for Entrepreneurs

Leo discusses Indonesia receiving international attention

Leo shares his response towards BBC findings that Indonesia is the best country for entrepreneurship and what needs to be improved still. With so much international attention, how can we use the momentum to improve our creative economy.

Author Leonard Theosabrata · Photo/Illustration Whiteboard Journal

07/07/11 · 11,170 Views

Leonard Theosabrata

Leonard graduated from the Product Design Faculty at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA in 2002. Currently the head of the Jakarta-based LTD. Leonard Theosabrata Design studio, his love for furniture has led him to build Accupunto for which he received the Red Dot Design Award in 2003, and Good Design Award Japan, 2005, and the recent Wallpaper Design Award 2009 for his collaboration with Michael Young for Accupunto.

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For most of us citizen of Jakarta, we know that the city is a thriving, hustling, bustling place that offers both opportunities and misfortune. Following the last report on CNN on our growing consumer might, now BBC has proclaimed Indonesia as the best country for entrepreneurship, amazing!

The US, Canada, India and Australia are seen as among the next best countries at supporting new businesses. Perhaps I can make a slight correction, I think it is more that Indonesia has a big growing market, combined that with a weak law enforcement and a non-agile government; basically for an entrepreneur, you can take your venture as far as you can at your own will.

Nonetheless, this is an amazing news, because the results is collected from a survey of more than 24,000 people across 24 countries. They were asked whether innovation was highly valued in their country; whether it was hard for people like them to start a business; whether people who do were highly valued; and whether people with good ideas could usually put them into practice.

Read the BBC news here.

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I really feel there are greater power at work behind this “sudden acknowledgment ” for Indonesia, could this be the next destination for a dot-com boom? or a second revival of industrialization? or even a strong candidate for a global creative city, there are definitely parties who has been making some correct PR moves for Indonesia, and its about time that we get this recognition.

With so much diversity and population, Indonesia is the dark horse in the race within the emerging markets, and we all know what we have and what we don’t have, for sure we can’t just keep selling our natural resources without any added value, we need value creation in the products that we sell.

To support this growth, what we need now is a boost in our infrastructure, because without it makes it a one way ticket to disaster, maybe it is time to invite Mr. Tyler Brule and his Monocle team for a discussion.

What can we do to make this a smoother sail in this sea of growth? Leave your comments on our facebook page.