T

he creative industry has given people in Jakarta opportunities to achieve success at a very young age by starting their own businesses.

Kevin Naftali, for example, started his knitwear and apparel line, Kevas.co, in 2011 and sold his products online. The 21-year-old university student designs his products and then produces them at a factory in Bandung, West Java. Today, his clothing line has customers all over Indonesia.

'€œWe ship the sweaters mostly to places outside Jakarta,'€ he said during a recent pop-up market dubbed LocalFest.co.id, which gathered young and creative entrepreneurs in fashion, the arts, music and food in Senayan City shopping mall in Central Jakarta.

His products are sold using a pre-order system through a website and social media accounts. Kevin said his clothing line'€™s revenue could amount to between Rp 150 million (US$11,525) and Rp 200 million per pre-order session.

With a promising business on his hands, Kevin said he had decided to work full time in Kevas.co after his graduation.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency shows that the creative industry contributed 7 percent of national gross domestic income in 2014, or around Rp 642 trillion.

Meidita Agustina of LocalFest.co.id said entrepreneurs involved in creative industries were getting younger every year.

'€œPreviously, they started doing business after finishing their studies. Now you can see many of them are still in college,'€ she said.

Another young entrepreneur, Abiyasa, a 19-year-old student of the School of Business Management at the Bandung Institute of Technology, said he started his Kala Watch business in January with 15 other friends, initially to fulfill an assignment from his lecturer.

Abiyasa and his team decided to make watches that highlighted the natural beauty, flora, fauna and culture of Indonesia.

The team began to take the business seriously after learning that their business proposal had attracted the attention of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), which provided them with capital.

'€œWe have now decided to continue the business and get training in watch machinery after our graduation in April,'€ he said.

Young entrepreneurs generally market their products on social media and online shops, knowing that the Internet penetration in the country is growing ever deeper.

The Communications and Information Technology Ministry says 150 million out of the population of 255.5 million across the archipelago will have access to the Internet this year, while brand and marketing institute BMI Research predicts that the total value of Indonesian customers'€™ spending on online shopping will reach Rp 50 trillion this year, or twice that of last year.

However, some young entrepreneurs still believe on the '€œseeing is believing'€ passage. Kevin said it was still important to directly interact with his customers to give them real experiences with his products.

As part of getting closer to his customers, Kevin also offers his knitwear in a concept store together with his friends'€™ products and takes part in various pop-up markets or bazaar events in Jakarta. He said he could make up to Rp 15 million per day during the LocalFest.co.id event alone.

'€œPop-up markets do help us young entrepreneurs to brand our products and boost our sales,'€ he said. (prm)