President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) briefly reviewed some startups on Monday after opening an event held to mark SOEs (State-Owned Enterprises or BUMN) Startup Day at ICE BSD City, Tangerang, Banten.
The event was initiated by the SOEs Ministry.
According to a statement received here from the Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau, the stalls of startups that President Jokowi visited included food startups, such as Pitik, which is aiming to empower chicken farmers.
The President left a message for Pitik, encouraging the company to continue doing what it is doing.
“From Mr. Jokowi there is a message, yes, on how we assist in empowering farmer communities in Indonesia from upstream to downstream,” Pitik’s co-founder and chief operating officer (COO), Rymax, said.
He further said he expects Pitik to get support from the government so that its goal of continuously providing support to chicken farmers can be met.
The President also visited Fishlog, a fish supply chain startup.
Co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Fishlog, Bayu Anggara, said he expects his team to receive direct support from the government in its efforts to bring fisheries businesses into the company’s ecosystem.
“We hope that, first, we believe that fish and my team are very strategic when we talk about strategic commodities, both local and export. Of course, (the company) needs direct support from the government in terms of allowing access, giving exposure to fishery business actors so that they can merge into our ecosystem,” Anggara expounded.
In his remarks prior to the opening of the SOEs Startup Day, the President had urged startup players to have courage and seize opportunities in the food sector.
He highlighted how the food sector only accounts for 4 percent of the startup population in Indonesia, which is still dominated by fintech (23 percent) and retail (14 percent) startups.
“So, this is a big opportunity and targeted consumers range from farmers in the fields, fishermen by the ocean, all the way to the kitchens of housewives. The opportunity is very big,” he pointed out.
On the same occasion, SOEs Minister Erick Thohir informed that the Startup Day event brought together 150 exhibitors, 250 startups from 12 clusters of SOEs, 22 SOEs exploring business matching, five companion venture capital firms, and at least five thousand invited guests.
“There are five (activities for) SOEs Startup Day (for) businesses, those being business matching, investor pitching, startup rapid mentoring, conferences, and of course, exhibitions. We call for support from Mr. President and the government so that this can be a big push for the advancement of Indonesia’s digital economy as one of future economic growth,” Thohir remarked.
Source: Antara News