REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The leading Indonesian co-working space EV Hive and Singapore largest integrated business zone BASH@Block 71 set a partnership here on Tuesday which is aimed to support the startup industry in both countries.
"This partnership plays an important role because the business ecosystems of both Indonesia and Singapore have benefited from the massive growth of consumer market, driven by the internet penetration and mobile adoption in recent years," a managing partner of EV Hive's administrator East Venture, Wilson Cuaca, stated in Jakarta.
The collaboration between the two countries' startup spaces will enable the strengthening of the platform of startup business in the Southeast Asia region, he remarked.
"Both countries can complement each other to form the most vibrant and exciting tech ecosystem in ASEAN," Cuaca stated at a press conference attended by the Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister S. Israwan.
He added that the partnership could flourish because Singapore has an excellent infrastructure, robust intellectual property regime, and an open access to global talent, while Indonesia offers a massive consumer base and hyper growth mobile internet development.
Cuaca stated that last year his startup funding company East Venture had interviewed around 800 business proposals.
"We finally approved the funding of 20 startups to develop their business at the early stage," he stated.
However, some technical issues, such as blackout, lack of infrastructure, as well as some regulations, have challenged Singapore's startup companies seeking to operate in Indonesia.
"In Singapore, everything is on schedule, whereas in Indonesia, there are some issues such as traffic jam, blackout, and the lack of internet access, which are crucial for the startup companies," he reiterated.
During today's event, Israwan remarked that besides supporting startup industry, his government has focused on assisting several economy sectors in Indonesia, including tourism, energy exploration, and expanding an industrial zone in Kendal, a district in northern Central Java Province.
Israwan added that the cruise companies, for example, have also been interested to expand a cruise business in Indonesia.
As an archipelagic country, Indonesia has a lot of natural landscapes which foreign tourists could enjoy, he remarked.
Indonesia and Singapore last year inked a memorandum of understanding aimed to develop the tourism sectors of the both countries.
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