Speaking at an event titled, “Entrepreneurs Wanted,”  in Bandung on Monday, Jokowi spoke of his experience building his furniture product brand over 27 years, eventually reaching a value of Rp 30 billion (US$2.1 million).

Meanwhile, he added that the value of his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s business, Markobar ‘martabak,’ which was launched only a few years ago, was, with the aid of digital technology, already five times higher than his furniture brand.

In the next five years, Indonesia's digital economy would be worth about $130 billion, said Jokowi.

However, he said that Indonesia needed many more entrepreneurs as they currently made up only 3.31 percent of the population, compared to the percentage in Singapore, which was 7 percent, Malaysia at 5 percent and Thailand at 4.5 percent.

"There are a lot of opportunities that can be exploited using this new mode of business," he said, adding that according to the World Bank, the country needed at least 4 percent of its population to be entrepreneurs.

Other speakers at the event included Tokopedia Co-founder Wiliam Tanuwijaya and Amartha Fintech founder Andi Taufan Garuda Putra. The event was attended by 1,000 university and senior high school students. (bbn)

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