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View all search resultsGovt to develop Southeast Asia unicorn learning center
With the growth of the country’s digital economy being one of the fastest in Southeast Asia, the government has committed to developing a learning center for the region’s digital startups, the facility of which is expected to be ready no later than next year, a minister has said
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ith the growth of the country’s digital economy being one of the fastest in Southeast Asia, the government has committed to developing a learning center for the region’s digital startups, the facility of which is expected to be ready no later than next year, a minister has said.
The government predicts e-commerce revenue will grow to US$130 billion by 2020, a big leap from the $1.7 billion estimate in 2015 by digital giant Google and Singapore state firm Temasek.
Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said a model of the center had been completed with the help of consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers. It will be submitted for discussion with the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.
“It [the center] is similar to a library, where startups can learn to become unicorns. And it does not apply only to companies. The government can also learn how one country’s policies help the digital ecosystem,” he said in Hanoi recently.
A unicorn refers to a startup with a valuation of at least $1 billion. Indonesia has four unicorns, namely ride-hailing app Go-Jek, online market places Tokopedia and Bukalapak, as well as online booking platform Traveloka.
Rudiantara said the plan was discussed with ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi of Brunei recently on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi.
“I believe we [Southeast Asian countries] have to avoid competition and start collaborating before another [country or] region takes over the [market],” he said, referring to China’s digital reach through its two online payment operators Alipay and WeChat.
“Once Alipay and WeChat reach our market, [they will dominate it]. Hence, I believe Southeast Asian countries need to speed up implementing cross border e-payment systems,” he added
Southeast Asia is an attractive market for digital startups as it has 640 million people and high internet penetration.
Digital transactions in the region amounted to $21.4 billion this year, with annual growth at 15.3 percent to $37.9 billion by 2022, according to German-based market research firm Statista.
In ride-hailing services alone, gross merchandise value in Southeast Asia is predicted to jump to $20.1 billion by 2025 from $2.5 billion in 2015, according to a Google-Temasek report.
Go-Jek, Indonesia’s first billion dollar startup, is also on its way to launch its digital payment system Go-Pay in Southeast Asian countries, its president Andre Soelistyo said while overseeing the company’s maiden operations in Vietnam last week.
“Our digital payment system has been running well in Indonesia and we hope it can help [Vietnam]. […] We know that e-wallets are strictly regulated in most countries, so we will pay special attention to them,” he said without disclosing the date of Go-Pay’s launch in Vietnam.
The minister’s statement on accelerating the development of digital startups in Southeast Asia, in light of looming extra-regional competition, was made on the same day as Bank Indonesia’s announcement that Alipay and WeChat were found to be non-compliant with the country’s e-transaction regulations.
“The applicants did not comply with the regulations, primarily because they do not cooperate with local payment systems,” BI payment system policy executive director Onny Widjanarko said as quoted by kompas.com.
BI issued the statement after Chinese tourists reportedly used both applications for transactions in Bali.
