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LuLu’s first Indonesian store to give opportunities to local products
A moment of excitement descended upon Cakung, East Jakarta, for a few hours on Tuesday, as the opening of the first hypermarket of Middle Eastern retail giant LuLu Group International was held, with the help of a familiar face.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (second right) tours the newly inaugurated LuLu hypermarket in Cakung, East Jakarta, on Tuesday. The hypermarket is part of a US$500 million investment commitment by UAE-based LuLu Group International. (Setpres/Lukman Jhoni)
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moment of excitement descended upon Cakung, East Jakarta, for a few hours on Tuesday, as the opening of the first hypermarket of Middle Eastern retail giant LuLu Group International was held, with the help of a familiar face.
The opening marks the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company’s first step into East Asia, the new store being part of its US$500 million investment commitment to the country.
The investment is the largest in the retail sector so far this year.
With the new store, the retail giant now has a total 126 outlets across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, India and Indonesia.
The LuLu Cakung store was inaugurated with the help of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who seemed enthusiastic that the company had chosen to set up shop in one of the UAE’s closest allies.
Flanked by LuLu executives, the UAE Ambassador and officials, including Trade Minister Thomas Lembong, Jokowi strutted through the aisles of the store.
The faces of LuLu’s workers glowed with excitement, seemingly the highlight of their day, much like the crowd of locals that gathered outside the store to see what the commotion was about.
The store is one of the products of Jokowi’s trip to the UAE in 2015. At the time, the President visited a Lulu outlet in Abu Dhabi and saw the opportunity it could give Indonesian products to reach the Middle Eastern market.
The fact that the Abu Dhabi outlet was already offering Indonesian products inspired the President to explore the possibility of further benefits it could provide for Indonesian farmers.
Jokowi said during the visit that the UAE was among Indonesia’s main export destinations. The value of trade between the two nations itself reached $2.21 billion in 2015.
No doubt to the President’s delight, LuLu then expressed its desire to invest in Indonesia, a promise that has been realized in only eight months. The opening of the store is expected to spur higher realization of investments from other UAE companies.
Data from the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) show that last year, the amount of realized investments from UAE stood at $19.25 million in 19 projects in 2015.
Meanwhile, the President said during the inauguration that LuLu could be the gateway to the Middle Eastern market, helping to empower local farmers and help their harvest reach foreign customers.
“Our produce is very competitive in terms of price and in some cases, quality. We can do more to increase the quality of our products for export,” Jokowi said as he toured the facility.
According to its master plan for Indonesia, LuLu plans to open nine more hypermarkets by the end of 2017 and to build a central logistics and warehousing facility in Jakarta as well.
“We also plan to set up contract farming between LuLu and local farmers to ensure the continuous supply of high-quality products and to help support the Indonesian agriculture sector,” said LuLu Group chairman Yusuff Ali in a statement.
