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Tech giants roll out digital training for Indonesians
The technology behemoths of the world are rolling out digital training programs in Indonesia, a country of significant relevance to their businesses, to address literacy and skillset gaps in Southeast Asia’s largest economy
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span>The technology behemoths of the world are rolling out digital training programs in Indonesia, a country of significant relevance to their businesses, to address literacy and skillset gaps in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
From United States tech giants Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to China’s Alibaba and Huawei, they have been working alongside the government and local communities to scale up their digital training programs so that more Indonesians can benefit.
Digital proficiency will lead Indonesians to consume more of the technology giants’ products and services, with the country poised to have the largest digital economy in Southeast Asia, with a value of US$100 billion by 2025, up from $27 billion in 2018, according to the annual “e-Conomy Southeast Asia” study conducted by Google and Singaporean holding company Temasek.
“To become the biggest digital economy [in Southeast Asia], Indonesia needs an excellent workforce,” said Huawei CNBG Indonesia CEO Andy Ma Hui.
Huawei announced on Thursday it was offering a base transceiver station and microwave vocational training program for 1,000 participants in partnership with the Manpower Ministry through the ministry’s training centers in Bekasi, West Java.
The Manpower Ministry has seen a drastic increase in business participation in promoting better human capital, primarily from the digital economy sector, to capitalize on the country’s massive and underdeveloped digital potential, said Training and Productivity Supervision director general Bambang Satrio Lelono.
On Wednesday, US tech giant Amazon’s cloud computing arm AWS unveiled that the company would initiate its cloud-computing skills enhancement plan to target “hundreds of thousands” of Indonesians by 2025.
Amazon’s cloud technology rival Alibaba Cloud has also picked up the pace with its own version of cloud technology classes. Meanwhile, Google claims to have provided digital training for 1 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia from 2015 to 2018 through various programs.
From 2018 to date, Facebook visited 15 cities in Indonesia as part of its “Laju Digital” campaign, including in the eastern part of the country, to provide training for SMEs, communities, local governments and students so they can utilize the company’s platforms for productive use.
Meanwhile, Apple launched its third Apple Developer Academy in the world in BSD, Tangerang, in 2018 to equip students with “world class” web development skills relevant to Indonesia, said Industry Minister Airlangga Hartato.
Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara described these human capital training programs as added value that multinational tech giants could bring to the table to boost the country’s ability to provide “local content” for the skills side of the digital economy.
Such steps to develop the national workforce conform with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s goal to foster well-educated workers who can contribute to the nation’s economy .
Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Indonesia research head Mohammad Faisal said the trend could help push down the open unemployment rate, adding that it was typical to see companies follow a president’s agenda during their presidency.
However, he still urged stakeholders to expand skills training and job opportunities for the digital economy’s formal sector, which is generally more financially stable for workers , as recent Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that the informal sector accounts for 57.27 percent of employment nationwide.
