IDF 2019: Establishing Partnership between The Rising Startup and the Investors

Inclusive Digital Economy Accelerator Space (IDEA Space) session.

This year, for the first time, the Indonesia Development Forum (IDF) held an Inclusive Digital Economy Accelerator Space (IDEA Space) session, which was a forum for interaction between startup activists and investors, as well as investors and associations, which took place at Balai Sidang, Jakarta Convention Center on 22-23 July 2019. The main theme of IDF 2019 is "Mission Possible: Seizing the Opportunities of Future Work to Drive Inclusive Growth". Through IDEAS, IDF 2019 succeeded in bringing together startups and investors.

"We are pleased to say that 82 percent of interactions in the adjoining space (the venue of IDEA Space) are in the process of entering into a cooperation agreement. So, many can easily realise their dreams, that is to become startups that can later grow into unicorns or decacorns, and so on," said the Minister of National Development (PPN) / Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Bambang Brodjonegoro during the closing speech of IDF, on 23 July 2019. 

Bambang stated that as much as 74 percent of the meeting between startups and investors had scheduled a meeting to discuss further collaboration. According to Minister Bambang, collaboration resulting from the IDEAS session in IDF 2019 was necessary to support development and face the challenging economic conditions.  In IDEAS, the main discussion of the most interest was business, finance and marketing. 

"Surely this is a very natural thing, for an entrepreneur and startups who just started their businesses. Because they certainly want to know how the business ecosystem functions. What is the available financing service, and also how to proceed when it’s later decided that the product or service is to be marketed or promoted," he added.

The results of the IDEAS session at IDF 2019 show that young Indonesians are brave enough to articulate ideas and to establish a startup.

“Furthermore, they are also confidant in finding investors and exploring further opportunities," said Minister Bambang.

IDEA Space's Special Session presented 75 small and medium scale startups who have the opportunity to interact and learn from 15 large startups that are well-positioned in industry 4.0. In addition, there are also 61 venture capitalists who use this opportunity to look for new seeds of startup businesses from all regions in Indonesia to be developed.

A number of startups also shared stories in discussion sessions at IDF 2019, including Aruna Indonesia.

"Aruna was created to help small fishermen through application technology that can monitor fishermen's catches which will then be sold and published through e-commerce," said Utari Octavianty, Director General of Aruna Indonesia in the Inspire Session "Developing Globally Competitive Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise ".

She added that Aruna worked with fishing partners across the archipelago to develop big data on Indonesian maritime affairs. These data are integrated into technology supporting applications.

Then there was Kitchen Studio that helped bamboo woven craftsmen to earn a decent income by producing higher quality, and therefore more expensive products. 

"Due to the lack of public interest in bamboo crafts, and the low income earned from selling bamboo crafts, young people rarely want to become bamboo craftsmen," Alain Benjamin, Co-founder and CEO, Kitchen Studio said at the Innovate Session "Developing Globally Competitive Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise ".

Kitchen Studio first started this business by empowering a pair of craftsmen.

"Now the number has increased to 16 craftsmen," added Alain.

Meanwhile, Agung B. Hadinegoro, Warung Pintar Co-founder spoke at the IDEAS Session "Inspire Developing Local Talent and Local Markets". He said Warung Pintar tried to answer the social problems that exist in Indonesia, namely micro-scale stalls that are slow to develop.

"Smart stalls are here to grow their business," he said.

The IDEA Space collaboration space was held in collaboration with IDF 2019 and the Indonesia Forum which is also chaired by the Minister of PPN / Head of Bappenas, Bambang Brodjonegoro, an independent institution that aims to provide policy recommendations for the nation. The Indonesia Forum contains pentahelix stakeholders namely academics, business people, bureaucrats, local governments and corporations.

"We believe that IDEA Space at IDF 2019 is in line with the main focus on Indonesia’s development in the future, namely Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Industry 4.0, and entrepreneurship. Even our Deputy Chairperson, Achmad Zaky, who is also the founder and CEO of Bukalapak, shared his experiences in this IDEA Space," said the Indonesian Secretariat General (Secretary General) of Bappenas, Danang Rizki Ginanjar. 

The presence of IDEA Space reinforces the existence of IDF as an evidence-based development forum and international-level insight. The unique value given by the IDF is not only on the topic of comprehensive discussion and hundreds of speakers from various sectors, IDF also presents methods of gathering ideas and ideas that are realized through the 4i approach: Inspire, Imagine, Innovate, Initiate.