However, for buyers and sellers it is difficult to find each other and get together. Apart from the spatial distance and the cultural differences, the lack of local presence of many foreign companies in Indonesia is a hindrance to get into the market and make their products and services visible to the Indonesian customers and consumers. 

For foreign companies it is difficult to establish reliable and solid contacts with potential customers in Indonesia and to build the necessary relationships for successful sales if there is no local presence. Of course, it is always possible to present products and services to a wide audience in Indonesia through trade fairs and exhibitions.

But this is not always sustainable and keeping track on leads and potential buyers becomes difficult after the exhibition is over and the sales guys have left the country. Indonesia is a country where personal contacts and relations make the deals. Follow up of leads, contacts and projects from a distance turns out quickly to be complicated, inefficient and does not bring the desired results. 

In Indonesia the personal presence of a sales contact and the direct approach of potential buyers on the ground is essential. Getting good opportunities, running sales and closing deals from the distance is almost impossible because Indonesians buy primarily on the basis of trust and a good and long lasting relationship.

For sales managers who fly in two or three times a year to Indonesia it is almost impossible to build and maintain the relations which are necessary for successful sales

Customers in Indonesia do not buy impulsively. Making deals and negotiating contracts with Indonesian buyers are a marathon and need endurance and permanent presence. The direct personal communication and availability are important factors when making business in Indonesia and cannot be replaced by e-mail, telephone or video conferencing. 

The easiest way is to have a local presence in Indonesia but there come the next hurdles. Opening a local office such as a sales representation is going together with registration process, a local setup, administrative works and certain legal and fiscal compliance liabilities. Getting the ball rolling you need local employees and might need to send one of your sales guys to Indonesia on a permanent basis incorporating all the stay and work permit issues. All in all this means that you spend a lot of time and money for the admin stuff rather than being active in sales activities.

A very common way is to find local distributor who is taking over the representation works for you. Looks like a cheap and easy solution on first sight but might turn out not be as good as it sounds. Many times local distributors have competitors’ products in their portfolio and you cannot be sure if your product is offered to their buyers as first choice or in an appropriate way. Also many local distributors do not go pro-actively to the market. They act more like a shop and wait until customers come to them asking for a specific solution or product and then offer them what they have on stock. 

The first difficulty is to find a suitable and reliable distributor company in Indonesia which is willing to put your products into their portfolio. Of course you will get in touch with many friendly and helpful people on exhibitions or my searching on the web for local partners but how can you make sure that you can trust them, if they have the sales channels they promise, are reliable and help you really to run your market entry?

To get reliable information about the potential partner might become difficult. Websites of Indonesian companies, if at all available, are not particularly meaningful. Databases or company directories also give little information and to investigate on their particular trustworthy is almost impossible for a foreigner.

If you are in the lucky position to find good partner you will need to keep track on their performance, the way they promote your products and have to support them strongly in doing so. Difficult to maintain this from a distance and by some business trips a year. 

Another possibilities is to setup your own local sales representative office. This will bring you in direct contact with the market and your customers will have a contact person on the ground. But as we talked already this goes along with a registration process, administrative setup and is thus associated to cost and an strong commitment to the market. If you have already solid business connections and sales activities a representative office is a logical step but for a newcomer it is many times a unnecessary burden and a costly first step. You never know how your local performance will develop and to wind up an existing office in case of an exit is hard to accomplish. 

The best solution to get in to the market is to have a person on the ground who is connecting for you, looking for leads and business opportunities and helping you to get the good deals. 

As a "newcomer to Indonesia" searching for this it often happens that you receive offers from rather dubious people telling you to work free, but "only" require a small commission to get your products into the market. Only too often it happens that they ask you for some thousand bugs here to cover their travel costs or some thousand bug there to pay for some “expenses” to get a project. By this you can quickly run into costs of some ten thousands US-Dollar without knowing what’s going on and, in the worst case find yourself in paying some bribes without even knowing it. 

Agents & facilitators bear unpredictable risks

The so-called helpful "facilitators" usually bring more difficulties than lucrative business, even though they promise you a great deal (for example, "good contacts", invitations to investor journeys, meetings with supposedly important political representatives, etc.) and promises. Whenever you meet such a person take utmost care. Nothing is it seems and being promised. 

This consultant will help you to select the right people who understand your product, have good connections and conduct sales activities for you. At the same time you have an adviser at your side who can tell you objectively what is possible, where the opportunities are and what steps you need to take to increase your market share or to settle in the market. Of course you will have to pay for this as well but many times the costs for such a service are less than you would spend for many business trips to Indonesia and are a good and secure investment into your future business. 

If this sounds like a plan to you, Indoconsult will appreciate to assist you. We offer Sales Force Indonesia to foreign companies, getting a secure and promising path into the Indonesian market. Within the last years we helped foreign companies to make the first steps to Indonesia and helped them to run successful and sustainable business with Indonesian customers.

Just contact us and we will find the ideal solution for your Indonesia sales. 

Working in a foreign country without knowing the legal basics is never a good idea. In Indonesia it will kill your business quickly. The Indonesian laws and regulations are a jungle and change frequently. What was right yesterday must not be right today.

Our advice: Obtain as much information as possible before starting your market entry. Crosscheck information with various sources. Check if you have sufficient resources to cover the legal and regulatory topics.

Indonesian culture is different, far different from western culture and even from many Asian cultures. It might look all too easy in the beginning, but by digging deeper into business you will experience the huge differences. Don't underestimate the impact of culture to business, communication, cooperation, management and daily work.

Our advice: Get a cross-cultural briefing online before starting and a cross-cultural training when you are in Indonesia. It will help you more than it will cost. 

It did not work with others and it will not work for your business. Things take time in Indonesia and sometimes more than you may expect. Even if you are promised that licenses are issued within a day or a certain permit can be obtained in 3 days reality looks different. Setting hard deadlines will only lead you to frustration and trying to push processes will lead to the opposite.

Our advice: Make a realistic time planning with buffer. Setting up a company may take up to 6 months till you have all necessary papers. Starting a sales project might take years before the first deals are coming. Don't count on "official processing times" of authorities. 

Yes, you can earn a lot of money in Indonesia but before that you have to invest. Starting with minimum invest requirements for FDIs, via fees for consultants and lawyers up to the budget for operations you will need money. Even if Indonesia might be a little bit cheaper than other countries you still have to see that qualified labor will not be for free, good consultants charge international fees and getting your bills paid before the first customer pays you must be done.

Our advice: Calculate your budget carefully. Think about what you will need to setup your business and calculate your operating cost. Don't guess them, ask someone who knows the business in Indonesia and do some research. Don't think that Indonesia is cheap! A beer in Jakarta might cost you the same as in your home country. 

Here we go with our special topic. Of course you can ask your local "friends" about doing business in Indonesia or someone who has an Indonesian passport. But do you think those people give you a professional & qualified advice? If you would be asked about all the necessary aspects of doing business in your country would you know them? The same goes for semi-professionals like service agents or facilitators. They might tell you a lot to get you to hire them, but would you trust a Visa or travel agent to setup and run your business?

Our advice: Get a professional consultant. Think about what you really need and hire only those consultants who have the experience. Check their track record, talk to them in person and pick the one who fits to you. 

Indonesia is a country full of licenses, regulations and laws you need to follow. Especially as a foreign invested business authorities will focus on you to comply exactly with all regulations for 110% and this from the first day on. Some licenses will be valid only for a limited time and need to be renewed. You will have to do tax reporting from day 1 of your business, implement certain HR standards, do proper accounting and bookkeeping and various other compliance topics. If you ignore them you will be in deep trouble, if you forget them it will cost you a lot of time and money to get them back on track and if you follow them you will need resources.

Our advice: Be ready as of day 1 to follow compliance regulations. Get a detailed overview of what needs to be done. Watch out for deadlines, extension periods, processing times of extensions. Allocate resources to these works (people, time & money). NEVER IGNORE ADMINISTRATIVE OBLIGATIONS!

Of course you will need to align your Indonesia business to your headquarter but think about two things: 1. different culture, 2. different regulations. It will be possible to work in some of your standards in Indonesia but some of them might not work, might be ignored or simply adjusted to what suites to your local staff. Trying to push outside standards by any means will drive you crazy. Managing with western style methods will lead you to the limit of your capabilities.

Our advice: Find out what is possible in Indonesia and what not. Don't try to force things to work. Take a look into local companies, get some best-practice advice or ask an experienced consultant to help you to implement standards which work. Always watch the cultural background. This defines your standards!

As already mentioned in point 3 it does not help to hurry in Indonesia. Things take time and sometimes even more than you might be told or expect. Authorities work in their own speed and in Indonesia they do not work service oriented. Trying to speed things up might lead into two directions: 1. you will be asked for speedup money - which is nothing else than corruption or 2. authorities will start becoming nasty by digging into every detail, asking for more and more documents or will simply let you wait. They have time, you not. 

Our advice: Be patient, don't pay speedup fees, plan your time carefully and calculate extra time for authorities. Follow the rules and don't become pushy. It takes as long as it takes. 

A very sensitive topic is on which basis you act and work in Indonesia as a foreigner. Once you do any business activities (even business trips, exhibition visits or going to a notary) you will need to have a proper business visa. There are various types like business visa on arrival for 30 days, a pre-issued visa for 60 days or multiple entry visa. Theses visas work well as you do not work for an Indonesian company. As soon as you have your business setup and want to work you will need a work and stay permit. Don't try to find any workaround (like Visa run to Singapore) because this will seriously endanger you personally and your company. 

Our advice: Get the right visas and permits. Hire a consultant for this job and take care that he is following the laws. Don't work in Indonesia with a business visa and don't do any business trip with a tourist visa. Take care of all foreigners in your company have the correct visas and permits. 

Sure, the Indonesian markets are growing fast, new businesses pop up everywhere, the opportunities are huge and you can earn a lot of money in Indonesia. But Indonesia business is not a sprint, it is a marathon! It will take time until you have your business set and ready and it will lots of time until you have your first projects, orders or contracts. Why? Indonesia is a market which is based on good relations. You will need to invest time to build such relations with business partners, customers, suppliers. Once these relations are settled good business will come. 

Our advice: Be patient and plan on the long run! Don't expect quick shots and easy money in Indonesia. 

Our job is to get you through the hard times when doing business in Indonesia and protect you from those failures. But to do so, you need to contact us before one of the failures happens. Of course we also will help you out of them, but it will cost you more time and more money. 

Our advice: Contact us before you start, invest some money in consulting and have a safe and great Indonesia business!!

Dealing with time is much more relaxed and flexible in Indonesia than in western countries. Speed is usually important, instead, there is serenity. A fixed time agenda is rather rare in meetings. If, then it is more a framework than a fixed run down to be strictly followed . This is indeed unusual and may disturb some, but it also opens up good opportunities to extend an appointment if that seems helpful.

Punctuality is even in Indonesia important, but delays are tolerated - if only because of the often unpredictable traffic. As a Westerner you should still try to be on time and to perceive dates accordingly since this may be regarded as a positive attribute and a sign of appreciation. If you are unpunctual you should be either very important or provide good reasons for your delay.

Appointments with longer lead are often understood as tentative and non-binding and thus may be changed on short notice. On the positive side, that means a certain, sometimes useful flexibility in scheduling and meetings.

It is common to catch up with someone on short notice or even by just showing up at their office. If the person is not available you might be asked to come again later or simply to wait until the person is free to meet you. So always have a good book with you to overcome the time waiting for someone.

The place of a meeting should be carefully and appropriately selected to the situation. If you are dealing with large Indonesian companies, meetings may be held in their premises. But also meeting rooms in hotels are often booked for meetings. It is also not unusual to meet somewhere in a coffee shop or a nice restaurant in one of the endless malls in Jakarta.

If it is on you to make selection, the hotel your negotiations will take place give a first impression of your status to your negotiation partner. Therefore, avoid "cheap or budget hotels" and pay attention to the good reputation of the house. When negotiating with authorities you will rarely become invited in their offices, for such meetings hotels are often used instead. This is partly because Indonesian government offices are not always representative and prepared for the visit of foreigners.

Very popular is to hold talks by a lunch, dinner or brunch. Here you should leave your Indonesian partners the selection of restaurant and location. They will make sure that here mostly high-class restaurants are chosen to emphasize the importance of the negotiation.

As already mentioned above, the meeting agenda is very flexible in Indonesia, negotiations follow not really a fixed time line or run down. To us Westerners, some conversations during meetings often seem poorly targeted or even useless and unproductive. There is a lot of showing politeness, beating around the bush or endless small talk. For a business traveler having a tight schedule this may be quite irritating.

However, as with many other things, what in Indonesia counts is not the result. It’s the quality of the relationship between business partners. Negotiations are therefore usually lengthy and require several appointments until the desired result has been reached.

Within your meeting delegation you should discuss the roles (as negotiator, expert, arbitrator, observer and mediator, etc.). Define theses roles well in advance and distribute tasks before the meeting takes place. It is recommended that your team shows up with the same number of participants as your Indonesian negotiation partners does.

Try to find out before the meeting whom your partner will bring along and don’t be surprised if other people join the meeting than agreed on before hand. In Indonesia everything is flexible. 

Indonesians are consensual people. Goals of a meeting are to negotiate as long as a result is achieved, which all can agree on. It is not important that the best (technical, financial, etc.) result is achieved. What counts is the relation between the business partners. In the talks important points are frequently repeated. A repetition or summary of what was said signals approval and understatement. Are some points simply ignored or not further discussed shows that they are either not important or it indicates rejection by your partner.

Prolonged silence or an interruption of the meeting are not necessarily negative signs. Indonesians contemplate before they comment on something. Pondering silence is a sign that a statement is considered carefully.

When negotiations stall, it is advisable to take a break. Such a break can take several hours or even days. Don’t worry! This interruptions give you and your partner a chance to continue the talks behind the scenes and solve ambiguities. Interruptions are not taboo and are not a signal for a breakdown of the negotiations.

Are negotiations getting stuck or conflicts arise, search for the support of an Indonesia expert or adviser. He can discuss as a neutral instance with the Indonesian partner about the problems and help to get clarification so that all partners can keep their face and negotiations can continue.

If you want to learn more about cultural impacts when doing business in Indonesia, visit one of our training or book a workshop for your company.

Check out our Indoconsult Training page.

Contact our training team at training@indoconsult.de for more information and details. 

Of course, those information can not be an assurance that your negotiations become a success all along the line, and for sure it does not replace individual consulting and advice. But if you follow these points you will be on a good way for your negotiation success in Indonesia.

Indonesia made some big steps towards market access within the last years in regards to Foreign Investment, thus your legal structure might be outdated and there can be better solutions for you available. Or it might be desired to gain more control over the company or simply get a more secure legal standing in Indonesia.

But there are also other reasons to go for a restructuring of your business. One of the most frequent demands might be that your local partner does not deliver anything towards your business, being a nominee only (which is by the way not really a legal solution in Indonesia – we will talk more about this later) or simply does hinder your business more than supporting it (e.g. by negatively involving into operations, not being available to sign documents, etc.).

The basic problem is that in Indonesia a limited liability company (PT) must have two shareholders. In case of a foreign invested company (PT PMA) there might be a regulatory demand to involve a local shareholder to meet the requirements of the so-called “Negative Investment List”. If you are operating in certain business fields this means that a local shareholder must hold some certain percentage of the company shares (starting from 1% up to 99%) in order to obtain the approval to invest in certain business sectors.

Another major issue is that it is still very common to have a local nominee in Indonesia, who is holding parts of the company shares due to previous regulations and laws. Those nominee constellations are legal very doubtful and do not give real security to foreign investors. 

The fact is that the constellation of having a nominee is indeed very common, but not backed by Indonesian law. Many of the contracts and nominee agreements are purely written in the English language which makes them void in case of a legal trial in Indonesia. 

Even if the contracts are construed under another jurisdiction (e.g. Singapore, Switzerland) it is not possible to enforce foreign court rulings and judgements in Indonesia, which makes the nominee agreements useless in case of legal conflicts.

In many nominee agreements, there is also a certain compensation agreed which the nominee shall receive on a monthly, yearly or one-time payment basis. This money has to be declared as an active income of the nominee and will be taxable in Indonesia. Theoretically the nominator, if being a registered tax payer in Indonesia could be forced to withhold such taxes on behalf of the nominee and declare them in the tax return. Practically tax authorities have not picked up on this yet, but it is a matter of time until local tax officers will see this a source of increasing the tax intake.

For the nominator the tax consequences are not that dramatic as for the nominee, but there is some kind of tax exposure as well. If the nominator has agreed to any kind of re-payment for the loan those payments would be taxable in Indonesia. The so-called “Pledge of Shares” agreement would indicate that a nominator is tax-vice engaged in Indonesia without having a legal tax registration. Tax officials could raise claims for tax filing and force a tax registration in Indonesia with unpredictable consequences for the nominator.

Optimization of tax exposure is another important topic which might make a restructuring necessary. The ASEAN-Community has implemented some bilateral agreements in the recent years, which open better investment opportunities, tax facilities, ease of licensing for business between its members. If you have a subsidiary in one other ASEAN country, it might be interesting to take a look on the optimization potential when involving them in your Indonesia business.

Some questions can be asked to find out if a restructuring might be a good approach for your business:

1. Is my engagement in Indonesia now open for more foreign ownership?
2. Is my local partner still reliable?
3. Do I want to have a local partner in my business or run it fully myself?
4. Is there a chance to optimize my national and international tax exposure and reduce taxes?
5. Do I want to increase or decrease my share on the Indonesian market?
6. Do I still work with a nominee structure which might be a legal exposure?
7. Did I recently setup affiliate companies in any ASEAN country?
8. Is my local partner able / willing to engage on a long-term? (step out, reliability, reputation, market access, heredity)

Last but not least a serious international company investing in Indonesia will comply with laws and regulations due to compliance regulations in the home country and business ethics. Trying to find a work around on Indonesian laws draws a bad picture and has uncertain legal and reputation exposures to an international corporation. And as good corporate citizen companies should always act in accordance with the laws and regulations of a market they are engaging in.

Another regulation is limiting the restructuring possibilities in Indonesia, which is the principle that all existing local companies being affiliated (even with minority share hold) to a PT PMA company have to change their status of a local invested company (PT PMDN) into a foreign invested company (PT PMA) by following all the necessary approval and registration processes. This inherent principle can cause a lot of administrative work and comes with intensive capital injections into existing subsidiaries.  

Despite those limited possibilities there are still some ways, which can be utilized to improve the business structure in Indonesia and get the desired results.

The first choice is the exchange of shareholders in order to optimize tax exposure, obtain legal security and intensify the involvement inthe company. Changing the shareholders might look easy and simple, but sometimes can have a real big impact to operations and management. An exchange of a local shareholder with a foreign shareholder for example will increase the engagement possibilities in local business, but trigger some certain legal and registration work to be accomplished.

From investment clearance by the Indonesian investment authority up with changes in business license, to name only a few, have to be planned, structured and executed. It is indeed some work, but might be worth it to achieve the desired result.

Another important topic comes when a 100% locally owned company is changing into a PT PMA. You will have to deal with different tax office and the investment authority. As a foreign invested company you will be exposed to higher attention of local authorities in regards to compliance works, accounting standards, HR regulations and so forth. All of this needs to be prepared probably to avoid problems in the future. It is not like you will have to pay more taxes, but you will need to put more effort into your tax compliance and be prepared for audits and investigations by tax officials.

Last but not least the corporate culture needs to be considered. A pure Indonesian company is having different leadership styles, hierarchy levels and a different team spirit. When putting foreigners into managing positions you will need to prepare them and the local team members on those cultural changes. 

We are specialized in supporting foreign investors when doing business and Indonesia, have set up several companies for international firms, helped to restructure local business and transform them into International Corporation and managed this, in accordance to our clients quite well (to say excellent would be a little conceited). Our clients have been accompanied from the very first idea up to finalize their projects and even beyond. If you would like to find out more about your opportunities for restructuring, we are happy to answer your questions.

If you would like to engage us for your upcoming projects we would be even happier. 

Want to know more about restructuring in Indonesia? Contact us...

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THE GREETING

To welcome someone in Indonesia, do the handshake, but your handshake should be very gentle-almost limp. A firm handshake is felt by many Indonesians as extremely unpleasant and is a sign for a rude personality.

Also women are greeted with a handshake, but it may happen that an Indonesian rejects this greeting, and instead puts together both hands in front of his chest and bowed slightly. In this case the person is most likely a Muslim who avoids body contact with the other gender. If this happens you should reply the gesture by doing the same.

DON'T TOUCH!

Indonesians are very frugal with touches when interacting with foreigners. Men are touching each other sometimes only on the forearm or shoulder when they know each other better. To kiss on the left and right cheeks is not normal in Indonesia but starts to become a habit in private and upper society. Touching another person in public or form the other sex is considered as impolite and should be avoided.

EYE CONTACT

A very usual thing in Western culture is not self-understood in Indonesia. Direct eye contact when talking is not always appropriate for Indonesians. From you as an European, it is ok if you have direct eye contact but don’t stare at the person you are talking to and don’t force them to keep the eye contact. If an Indonesian is trying to avoid eye contact, it should be accepted and not understood as impolite. Some Indonesians are educated that way.  This is because Indonesia is strongly influenced by hierarchy and status and Indonesians look down if they feel they are hierarchically or socially in a lower rank.

DON’T BLOW THE HORN!

Blowing of your nose into to a hanky could draw some negative attention to you Indonesia. To blow once nose in public or in front of others is considered to be extremely unhygienic and impolite in Indonesia. If you need to blow your nose during a meeting, then excuse yourself, leave room and embark in the toilet. One of the worst things you can do is to put your used hanky into your pocket. If you do both in front of an Indonesian you can be sure that he/she will never ever shake your hand. 

THE BUSINESS CARD

Business cards are your ID for business in Indonesia. You should never run out of them because you will be asked everywhere for your card. Be sure to us a job titles that reflects your position and status as well as degrees such as PhD, Dr., Prof. if you posses them. Your business card should look professional and have a good logo as well as your contact details. Indonesians will also give you there business card and many will use both hands to hand it over. Take the card also with two hands and place it in front of you during meetings or inside your pocket (please not in your back pocket).

Some Indonesians will give you more than one business card. It is very common in Indonesia to have a second business and thus more than one business card. The most important you should ask is the mobile number of your Indonesian business partner. Because this is the best way to get in touch with someone (via SMS, BBM, WhatsApp or by calling). In Indonesia the use of SMS or any social media communication in business is absolutely normal. 

THE TITLE

As you may know, first and last name rules are not usual for Indonesians. If you meet someone, who’s name is for example, Anton Herotomo. ‘Herotomo’ is not his last or family name, but he was just called Anton Herotomo by his parents. To address a person correct it is best to take the first name on the business card and put a “Mr.” or “Mrs.” Before  that, if your conversation goes in English. So you may call that person Mr. Anton rather than Mr. Herotomo. Indonesians often use nicknames, also in business which sometimes is not even similar to the name on the business card.

If you are offered to us it, just do that. It is a sign of trust if. Are you being addressed by an Indonesian it might happen that you are also called by your first name (i.e. Mr. John or Ms. Maria). Don’t try to explain that your family name is Smith or Meyer. People will continue calling you Mr. John or Ms. Maria. If you are not sure about how you should address someone it is no problem to simply ask the person about how he/she wants to be called. 

MAKE IT EASY!

In Indonesia, there are two very practical words that simply mean “Mr." or "Mrs." which you can use for the salutation. If you do not know the name of your counterpart, or have forgotten it, then speak to him simply with “Pak” (spoken Pa with a hard P like in parking) or “Ibu”. “Pak” is used to address a man, while “Ibu” is for ladies. It is very much appreciated by Indonesians if you do that and it will rewarded. 

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THE SHOES

As for shoes, you should not wear sandals or other open-toed shoes for business meetings or presentations. This applies not only for women but also for men. Feel free to slip under your desk in a few open-toed shoes, but for meetings the toes should always be covered by the shoes.

Want to learn more about cross-cultural topics when doing business with Indonesia?

Visit our training & workshops. Find out more in our training section!

Read part 2 of our business trip series "Business Etiquette in Indonesia"

For foreign investors, three ways to operate business in Indonesia exist. If you want get started and explore the market, you can, of course, always enter with a visa to attend trade shows or to look for potential customers. However, this is not always promising, because in Indonesia, business is based on a deep and long-term development of trust. A quick shot is rather rare, and a detailed look into the market, knowledge about country and people is absolutely necessary for long-term and profitable business.

Principals for business in Indonesia:

• Take time and don’t rush the business. Plan your steps far ahead and have a solid strategy.
• Look out for a reliable business partner, who either might be a local person whom you can trust or a reliable consultant.
• Follow the rules and regulations of the country, even if they might not make sense to you. Never think that everything is “easy going” in Indonesia.
• Have sufficient funds to set-up the business. Registrations, set-up and good staff always costs money.
• Even when things make you sometimes feel desperate, keep going. There is always a solution.
• If a competent advisor tells you that your line of business won’t be allowed in Indonesia, do not try to challenge this by finding a way around. This will trigger a lot of trouble. Never ever try to solve problems you may encounter by bribing or giving “speed up money.” It will cost you more than money in the long-term.
• Learn about Indonesia, its history and business culture. Together with some language skills, this will be your key to successful business in Indonesia.

If you have questions or need support when doing business Indonesia Indoconsult is your reliable partner. 

Of course, these tips can give no guarantee that the everything is running perfect in Indonesia. But if you keep some of them in mind you are prepared for the first steps in this fantastic country.

When interacting with Indonesian partners on a long-term it is advised to prepare yourself with some culture training, obtain a certain level of language skills and maybe ask a professional intercultural consultant for support before things become difficult.

New generations are coming to the market in Indonesia and they are different in their behavior, in some ways. Mangers face a diversity of cultures when leading people in Indonesia and this is not an easy task. As an expat this comes in addition to the existing cultural differences and this makes it even more challenging.

Basically, our job, as a cross-cultural consultant is to observe this, investigate on the changes and the impacts to business and work out solutions for your daily work to cope with the culture. 

Cultures do change, but real impacting changes take a long time or tremendous steps (the Indonesian government tried such a step last year with the "Revolusi Mental" program).

Indonesia started to change its political system in 1999 and the social system is still "under construction". Let's assume that a real impacting culture change takes two generations, one generation is 25 years.

Now we are in the year 19 after Suharto, in year 14 of a new direct election system, in year 8 of a kind of new school system and in year 4 of a social insurance system. Anyone who was not socialized under the old system (from pre-school onwards) is now approx. 20 - 22 years old. So there is still a long way to go until we see real change impacts on Indonesian culture. 

As you may know: Culture is not only based on our school or university education. Culture is deeply rooted in beliefs, the socialization and the environment a person is growing up and living in. A person acquires most if its culture from the family, friends and its surrounding and this is what makes an individual’s culture. Cultural values are many times experienced without cognition and that is why we do not question many of our cultural values and just take them as we have learned them.

In Indonesia, some cultural basics are far older than the Republic of Indonesia itself and have been passed from generation to generation,  because they were either useful to maintain social order or useful from a personal point of view. Just take the examples of the principle of harmony (Rukun), the principal of Discussion & Consensus (Musyawarah & Mufakat), the principle of respect for age and status, the principle of Indonesia's unity, the principle of mutual cooperation (Gotong Royong), the principles of power in Indonesia. These principles are deeply rooted in beliefs, in social values and even in the national ideology.

Even children now a days have learned those principles in their family, in pre-school, school and university.

We can assume that they will not change that fast or maybe not change at all, even if some Indonesians do study abroad and gain international experience. The majority of Indonesians still runs through the regular social system and even the once coming back from abroad are faced with the challenge to get their new experience in line with the culture in Indonesia. Some of them may succeed and bring some new cultural influence into Indonesia, but many of them simply follow the stream and turn back to their original culture.

Another thing is that there is a big difference in Indonesia between urban culture (Jakarta) and rural culture, which we need to consider. Those days, all of these cultures come together in Jakarta and sometimes you will deal with people behaving, thinking and acting very western but at the same time strongly and proudly representing the Indonesian cultural values, when it comes to critical issues (i.e. in case of conflicts people will fall back into their conflict handling schemes they've learned from childhood on, even if they have been trained in other methods).  From my experience even the young "Jakartians", which act very western behave in this way. On the outside, towards a foreigner they behave western. They go to western stylish bars, meet westerners and behave western. “Western culture” is cool and easy to some of them. They imitate "western cultural values" (which do not exist at all) by wearing western style clothes, consuming Starbucks coffee, buying iPhones, watching YouTube and talking in English.

But taking a look behind the “Western facade” reveals their cultural roots, beliefs and behaviors. Just meet them at another time, with local friends in a small Warung (local food stall). You will see the original culture quick. And so to say: It should be like this and cannot be different.

Of course young people are easy to adopt certain things they like and take them as a culture, but being with their family in the village will soon let them forget about all this western thing and bring them back to their original culture.

Indonesia is having a rich, diverse and very interesting culture. Currently we are in a very interesting transition period where different cultural values do co-exist, clash, mix up and get sorted out.

The people search for a cultural identity, which fits into the 21st century. Many topics are having an impact in this identity search. There is the traditional Indonesian culture, a new democratic movement, the hunt for economic wealth, the striving for knowledge, the cultural influences from China, Korea, Japan, Europa or the US, the religious influence, western lifestyle versus Asian life style, and various others.  

I am curios to see and learn how this will develop and to which culture it will lead in the end. One thing should not be done. Politics, economy, business should not try to actively steer this process into a certain direction. This can only fail. Looking into history, even colonists, politicians or anyone else could not change the real Indonesian culture values. They are rooted so deep in society that many of them will not change. Cultures are of course dynamic, but cultures change slowly and only if the people are willing to change collectively. Sometimes culture just resists change!

Oh yes, one thing in the end. Since the late 80's Indonesia sent many young high potentials to study in the US or anywhere else in the world, get a degree at a reputable university and gain international experience. They learned  international management methods, negotiation styles, leadership and communication skills there. Those people are the guys, which sit now in the BoD's and BoC's of big Indonesian companies. Did these guys change the Indonesian culture?

If you want to learn more about Indonesian culture you may visit one of our training or workshops in Jakarta or simply book an in-house workshop for your company. We offer a wide range on cross-cultural service, training and workshops. In our training and workshops we include a lot of those "new culture" topics, which managers need for leadership in Indonesia.

For more information check our training section.

The principles of the Pancasila (which literally means 5 principles) are:

§ Belief in the one and only God(Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa)

§ Humanity and Internationalism (Perikemanusian/Internationalisme)

§ Nationality (Kebangsaan Indonesia)

§ Democracy and Consultation (Permusyawaratan)

§ Social Justice  (Kesejahteraan Sosial)

In Western countries, managers strongly focus on their professional skills, whereas a strong focus on professional skills is not as important when you work in Indonesia.  As a manager in Indonesia, you may have to step back a little from your professional experience and instead focus on the leadership part of your job. This means that you need highly developed communication, empathy, social integration, and pedagogic skills to succeed, rather than a master degree in engineering or rocket science.

Management in Indonesia is pure people business -- and leading people in Indonesia requires that you utilize your full set of social skills.

As a manager, you will not earn your staff’s respect by leading in a highly professional and efficient way or by developing solutions at the highest technical standards. What matters and counts are your personality, your character, and the way you treat your staff on a day to day basis. 

In general, Indonesian employees pay high respect to their superiors. If you do everything correctly, your employees will show you the utmost respect, express their politeness at any time to you, follow your requests and assignments, and will appreciate you without any prejudices. In return, your employees will expect and demand leadership and responsibility from you. Contrary to Western belief, which focuses on delivering high performances and achieving targets, Indonesian employees ask you to care about them (also on a personal level) and for you to take responsibility for their actions.

You are a lot more than just the boss. You will have to take the role of a parent, coach, consultant (also in non business-related issues), and a judge. As a leader, you are the matriarch or the patriarch of your company or department. This principle applies to female and male leaders equally.

You employees place high trust in you and will always show you their respect. At the same time, they expect you to give them clear and detailed assignments, advice and instructions how tasks have to be performed. They also expect you to check their work progresses frequently, take responsibility for all results and the work of the employee, and that you receive and accept the work results they have achieved (or sometimes, have not achieved). At all times, Indonesian employees expect you to be patient, wise, and to excuse mistakes.

Do not be surprised when your employees count on you as an advisor or sometimes even as a judge, when they have personal issues or problems. It is not uncommon in Indonesia that managers are involved in their employees’ family issues and are asked for personal advice.

Be prepared to work in a more sociable way rather than just in your professional area of expertise. Accept a certain degree of inefficiency and be flexible.

For the Western mindset this may be unusual, but managers in Indonesia, will have to care a lot more personally about employees. Indonesian employees might regard you as somebody who is always right, does not make any mistakes, and always knows the right solution for any given problem. They will consider you as a highly responsible person at work and as a wise judge in critical situations, even when these critical issues are mistakes caused by the employee.

Managers in Indonesia care about their employees, on a business and on a private level. In return, you will be honored and appreciated with trust and in the best case, with outstanding loyalty, as Indonesian employees develop loyalty for a person and not for a company.  

Once you have earned this trust, you will have people, who will follow you in good and in bad times, and sometimes even for life, even if you leave the company or the country.

For an expatriate, it might be challenging to build this kind of relationship, while settling into this new role, due to a limited time in Indonesia. But if you approach this challenge in a human and organized way, and do your job well, you will gain motivated, reliable, and loyal employees for life. 

Leadership in Indonesia…

…is people business,

built on the personal engagement of the leader, and is very time consuming and work intensive.

Of course, this article can't cover all the important topics and the wide range of situations a Western manager will experience in Indonesia. To get a deep insight into the important issues, we invite you to participate in one of our Leadership in Indonesia training, where you will learn and experience how to work and lead more effectively in Indonesia. 

If you are interested in individual coaching sessions about leadership, please contact us directly. We offer special coaching for leaders from leaders, so that you can reflect, improve and increase your leadership skills for Indonesia. 

Indonesia is currently a hot topic when it comes to promising future markets. The possibilities offered by this emerging country seem to be unbelievable and endless. In this spirit of optimism, it attracts a lot of international companies. They want to participate in this growth from the very beginning, join in at this upswing and enter a market which opens huge sales opportunities.

In fact, Indonesia is the fourth-most populous country in the world and has brought it in the years since the Asian crisis of the late 90s quite far. The economy is growing steadily, the increase in GDP in 2015 of more than 4.8% felt by many investors as a strong lure.

A consumer market of more than 250 million potential customers, a growing middle class, increasing local income, yet favorable conditions for manufacturing and production promises good, solid, long-term profits. Production and sales curves for alternative energy, palm oil, food and other agricultural products show a clear upward trend and many government programs facilitate foreign investors to get started.

All in all, the chances are currently as good as ever, and those who plan long term and want to participate in the growth, should seize the opportunities now to offer their products or services in Indonesia. Numerous companies from the US, China, Japan, Korea and South America have already taken this step or are about to do it. There is no reason for your company to remain outside, especially if your products or service fit to the growing demand of Indonesia’s population.

In many sectors international companies do already have a strong foothold or act as key players in Indonesia. They are present with their products and services in Indonesia and have built up a top reputation.

In some markets foreign companies do have a good stand and are expecting strong growth in the near future. This is the case in:

• Renewable energy
• Power generation & Distribution
• Healthcare
• Consumer goods
• Food & Beverages
• Private Insurances & Banking
• Automotive
• Traffic engineering
• Public Transport and infrastructure

Of course, this is just an excerpt. But in all these sectors analysts expect an increasing demand and an opportunity for know-how and products from foreign investors to play a key role in the country.

Stepping into a new market and establish business there is rarely an easy task. The key to success is to analyze the market carefully, weigh risks and opportunities, define strategies and utilize the necessary resources. This is no different in Indonesia. There are however many helping hands and minds that want to make your first step easy.

Various Indonesian government organizations such as embassies, trade missions and organizations offer to an entrepreneur advice and information on investment and business in Indonesia. They can provide information on markets and opportunities and help to establish the first contacts.

If you took the decision to enter the Indonesian market, you will quickly meet many friendly people. And that's one of the first challenges that are typical for Indonesia. The openness and friendliness of the Indonesians is overwhelming and you soon find contacts. Everyone you meet, gives you new possibilities, recommends other contacts and the network usually grows much faster than expected.

The seemingly lucrative offers of cooperation and assistance are piling up and you get the nice feeling to be a sought-after and welcome partner. This experience, coupled with the prospect of winning an exciting growth market quickly leads to great optimism, even euphoria. Everything seems possible and already on the way.

If everything is going so well, then where is the challenge? Well, it is precisely here! From all this positive feedback, the huge range of ideas and proposals you get you need to carefully brake and find out exactly where the real opportunities, the reliable business partners and the big deals are and if all of this leads you into the desired direction.

Take a brake, breath-in, count to 10 or what so ever! But never ever take the first chance as the best, even if it looks so promising to you and your new “friends” push you friendly but certainly into business. You should clearly have in mind at this stage, where your chances actually are and what you want to achieve. Even though it may seem so at the beginning: Indonesia is not a easy catch, the market is a Diva and wants to be ensnared. But be careful a Diva is sometimes capricious and witty. If you want to do business there, you must have a clear strategy, patience, endurance and persistence.

As for any other country there is no panacea for Indonesia, but there are some key elements that facilitate market entry and increase the chances of success.

Market entries rarely fail in Indonesia because of not being feasible. Companies that fail notice this fact relatively late and then at its worst. Why is it like this? In Indonesia you will rarely find somebody who is communicating problems or difficulties direct. Often the problems are only revealed when they have already popped up and can barley be ignored.

Especially westerners do not understand the tiny signals, hidden hints and indirect information, which are convey well in advance by their Indonesian counterparts.  Westerners and Indonesian do communicate in different ways and put the focus on different cultural values.

Another reason is the primacy of national interests in Indonesia. Although you are an investor and thus always welcome, you have to be clear on that you work in a foreign market, which is having its priority on national interests, the protection of local labor, local industry and protection of the local markets. This nationalist think is predominate in case of conflict.

The most difficult part is in such situations is that you will already be settled and established that a orderly exit strategy (if you have one) will be extremely difficult to accomplish and will go along with extremely high efforts, cost and a loss of reputation.

To avoid this, you may consider the following to be helpful: 

1. Good preparation, planning and strategy
2. First, take a look behind the scenes
3. Do not push, and don’t let yourself get pushed
4. Get advise, get a good consultant
5. Pack plenty of patience, endurance and persistence into your suitcase
6. Take caution and follow your gut feeling
7. Select the right people with due care
8. Don’t think Indonesia is like Europe, USA, South America or other Asian Countries
9. Not everyone who smiles is a friend
10. In addition to business success also enjoy the cultural learning

Indonesia is a promising market in which many are trying their luck. The once who became successful took due care on the culture more than on the business. If you understand and appreciate this country, you will learn to love it - not only because of the good opportunities.

Of course, those information can not be an assurance that your endeavor becomes a success all along the line, and for sure it does not replace individual consulting and advice. But if you follow these points you will be on a good way for your business success in Indonesia.

If you want to enter the Indonesian market or expand your business there, simply contact Indoconsult for support and information. 

Of course, we watched the Asia Crisis carefully, which also affected our project in Indonesia. But we were quite confident that the effects to Indonesia and our client, which was a state-owned enterprise, would not be that dramatic. Then the Rupiah dropped in value and we knew that serious problems were ahead. Nevertheless, our project continued, and there was no sign that things could become more dramatic.

In January 1998, the situation seemed to cool down a little, when the IMF announced to initiate the second installment of its emergency program and the IBRA(Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency) was established. Due to the fact that President Suharto was reelected in February 1998, it all seemed like a hick up in the world business. But, suddenly, things happened and changed the whole country long term. In April / May 1998, student demonstrations started in all big Indonesian cities.

What began as an upheaval against bad financial conditions turned into a rage against the political establishment, the so-called New Order (Orde Baru) and its head figure Suharto.

I followed this development throughout the years and what I saw, heard, and learned from Indonesia influenced me a lot. In 2000, I worked in Makassar. At that time, there were no shopping malls, only one shop, which could be called supermarket, and it was more than adventurous for a foreigner to stay and live in Indonesia. Jakarta was still the country’s center, but more or less a big crowded accumulation of kampungs (villages), compared to the mega city it is today.

The political scenarios in Indonesia developed faster than in any other country I know. Soon after the first democratic President did not perform as people had expected, a new president came in 2001. The youngest daughter of Indonesia’s founding father, Megawati Sukarnoputri, was put in charge. Long before Germany was ready for a female head of state, the country with the largest Muslim population had a female president. Indonesia turned very fast from a centralized and state-controlled country to a capitalistic market, where everyone tries to get a big slice of the prosperity cake.

Many succeeded, but many failed, and became losers of the democratic and free system, as it happens in many countries where systems change quickly. But in this article, I do not want to give a statement on the gap between poor and rich, or government social responsibility, even if this is still and more than ever an important topic for Indonesia. It is just a foreigner’s point of view on how fast things developed and what impressed me.

Even the very well known poor infrastructure improved dramatically within a decade. Mobile phones are life essentials in Indonesia. Today, you have mobile Internet coverage on the smallest island at 10 times the speed of an Internet connection in a German city. When I spent holiday on the island of Lombok in 2000, I had to walk up the road for about 1 kilometer from my house to get, at least, the possibility to make a phone call within Indonesia. International calls were impossible without a public Wartel (telecommunication counter).

In 2014, I visited the same house again - and I even could login to my neighbor’s WiFi hotspot, if I didn’t want to use the 14.4 Mbps my mobile provider offered me.

In 2014, those young students elected a new president, who will lead the country into its future and decide what have been positive and what have been negative developments over the last 15 years.

I, personally, look forward to a bright and prosperous future of Indonesia, to the welfare of its people, the prosperity of its economy, and to the ambitious targets the country has set itself for the next decade.

Article by Christian Hainsch - 2014

When selecting the right partner you should consider what kind of business you are planning to do in Indonesia. There is a big difference whether you want to establish a branch office or local company or you are looking for a distributor for your products. For one or the other, different criteria are important to consider and follow. Either your partner should have the necessary connections to authorities and offices, or having a sufficient network of clients and the necessary product knowledge is only one of the questions you should ask and find out.

For myself, I found out that finding a suitable business partner is one of the most difficult tasks when entering the Indonesian market. You can get numerous contacts and connections in Indonesia as well as a sizeable stack of business cards in your pocket from participating in a trade fair and joining a delegation or a business matching trip. You may think that was already hard work, but now comes one of the most difficult and critical tasks when doing business in Indonesia. It is time to select the business partner from all of the contacts that you have acquired to find a partner and to choose the best one that will fit to your project.

When explaining your endeavors to potential partners in Indonesia, you will very rarely get disapprovals or criticisms about your business idea. You will most likely receive very positive feedbacks from your discussion partners. There will be a lot of friendly comments, agreement, and encouragement. Many times you will hear from the people that you speak with that your business will be very successful in Indonesia and with the right partner you will make a lot of money and there is an overall commitment to help you start the business together.

It is advisable to check out a number of partners before making a decision, which should be based on a detailed partner profile as the baseline for your search. The best way is to hire a good consultant with knowledge about the local business and Indonesian culture to support you in the development of such a profile and give you some intercultural guidance on how to select the proper partner. Besides the specific know-how your partner should have there are many soft facts and cultural issues you need to consider during the selection process.

After all of these steps you have to perform the most important of all steps finding the right business partner in Indonesia: establishing a personal relation with your business partner. In Indonesian culture, there is one principle which counts in business as well as any other occasion where people deal with each other: personal relation is important. This is very important for future business and will take a lot of time. However, once a good relation is established everything will work better, smoother and more profitable than you have been thinking of. Keep this in mind and you can now start finding your perfect business partner in Indonesia.

And always apply one principle: "Look well before you leap ...”

Cheers

Chris Hainsch

Anyway it is a good idea to hire a professional consultant to support you in this process. If you want to know more or if you need some support contact us.

When you talk with foreign entrepreneurs who have succeeded in Indonesia, you’ll often say them things like “Indonesia is not Asia for beginners” or “if the market would not be that big, I would not bother and just go home”.

My advice is to always take such statements with a grain of salt. In my opinion it’s a reaction to the government’s (mainly BKPMS’s) overly positive promotion campaigns that make Indonesia sound like a dream come true for ANY investor. Which it isn’t of course – you need to be wise about where and how to invest your money.

But let’s look at the three key obstacles particularly for a foreign investor who wants to run a small business in Indonesia. For the sake of clarity, let’s define small business as a business with equity less than 300,000 USD.

1# Minimum capital requirements

We often shock our clients when we say that they need to have an investment plan for 10 billion Rupiah (~1 million USD) in order to get BKPM approval for the investment. 

In a nutshell, you need to have a plan for 1 million dollars and notary statement for at least 300,000 USD that will be paid up capital.

While the law enforcement in that matter is very loose, don’t count on that forever. Even if you don’t have 300,000 USD to pay up, you should aim for raising that money while operating your business.

2# Foreign ownership restrictions

One of the key principles of the Investment Law and Negative Investment List is to protect local businesses that would be vulnerable to foreign competition. It affects especially the aspiring restaurant and guesthouse entrepreneurs, where the maximum foreign shares are in a range of 49-51%. The idea behind it is to force you to seek for a local partner.

3# Hiring foreigners

Investment law also stipulates that any company must prioritize hiring local people. In reality what it means is that commissioners and directors get their limited stay permits (KITAS) easily, while hiring foreign employees is becoming increasingly challenging.

Ministry of Labor wants to see proof that the vacancy cannot be fulfilled by local person and that the particular foreigner you want to recruit is highly qualified for that job.

As a rule of thumb, they also want to see that you hire a decent number of locals for every foreigner. Minimum ratio is subjective, but is usually between 2:1 to 5:1, which is another challenge for small business owners who hire only limited number of people.

Use local partners wisely

I don’t have statistics to back up my claim, but majority of the foreigners who want to run a small business in Indonesia are men who are in a relationship or married to an Indonesian woman. There are couple of important incentives that being married to an Indonesian gives you. Firstly, after 2 years you are eligible for permanent residence (KITAP) and secondly, you have a local person you can trust.

Whether it’s your wife, partner, friend or agent, nominee arrangements where a local person is owning the business on paper are never 100% safe. If your local nominee decides to take over the business entity, there is not much that can stop them.

We will soon publish another article on nominee arrangements, but as a rule of thumb – always be prepared for the scenario where the local nominee would decide to take over your business.

Start small, grow big

As said before, government doesn’t really check how much capital has been actually paid up. After your company is registered, you are on your own and it’s up to you how much money you actually put into your company. You need to submit investment reports every 3 or 6 months (depending on whether you already have permanent business license) but even then nobody checks whether what you claimed is actually true or not.

Therefore starting small but growing your business to a level where you have required equity is a viable option. If you run a small cafe it might be hard to achieve, so focus on businesses that have the potential to scale up.

Have legal entity in another country

In some cases your clients won’t care where your company is registered. In such cases you might want to consider starting a company in a country where starting and managing business is easier. Your challenge will be the visa of course – as a tourist you need to leave the country at least every 2 months and immigration will soon start asking questions from you.

Indonesia is a country with good opportunities for doing business. The economy is growing over the last decade with a GDP of 6-7%. Investment climate and chances for foreign investors are improving and the economic outlook is promising.

The following presentation gives an overview about business in Indonesia.

Our Experts are also available giving this presentation at your company or institution. For more information please feel free to contact us.

by Christian Hainsch

Published at the KADIN - BSD Bulletin 12/2012

“Washington D.C. – The IMF – Director announced today the new member countries of G10 for the coming year. In addition, the founding countries Indonesia as well as South Korea have been nominated to take part in the G10 round as of January 1, 2026. The nomination of both countries was already expected by analysts as far as both have been part of the so-called SMIT-Group. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo expressed his gratitude to the IMF and to his fellow citizens, which so he said: “did their best efforts to reach the goals defined in the MP3EI” to become a member of the G10. Indonesia has currently a GDP Growth of 8,5% and has passed China and India in the year 2019 by its growth rates."

This is currently fiction; however if you look at Indonesia at present and if you know about the potential of this country you may consider that the paragraph above may become reality. Indonesia is definitely one of the most promising markets in the Asia – Pacific Region and a country of superlatives. Fourth biggest country in the world by its population, more than 17,000 islands, big-gest producer of palm oil, 60,000 medium sized enterprises, 41 million small economic units, 240 million people, 5.700 km archipelago, three different time zones and so on. Most of these impressive facts have been written already a thousand times.

But what has not been written is why it is really a good idea to do business in Indonesia. Of course you may say that the country is having constant GDP growth over the past years, a stable democratic system, endless seeming natural and human resources. On the other hand, you may say that the country is having problems such as corruption, bad infrastructure, natural disasters, uncertainty in legislation and a few more. But every market has its shiny sides and dark abyss. Looking for opportunities and taking risk is daily bread for businessmen and if we do not take any risk we will never experience the chances to enter a new market.

The reasons to do business in Indonesia are infinite and it is every one’s own choice to do it or not. I have met many businessman who asked why I am doing business in and with Indonesia. They have asked me about how I deal with all those bad things they have heard. They want to know if we make good and stable profits with that business and they want to hear how long I will continue. And, that is already the question I was waiting for. I will continue business with Indonesia for the rest of my life. If it is running well or not, if I fail with one idea or succeed with another, if I have to deal with corruption issues or interfering laws. It all does not matter because the reason to make business in Indonesia is that once you catch fire and understand the country you will never give up to develop something there.

Every time I drive through an Indonesian city or village I discover some hundred ideas of doing business, and this not only in Indonesia but, anywhere else in the world. I have seen so many Indonesians having good ideas earning their money and making their living that I am impressed by the creativity which only has to be re-covered, shaped and transferred into realistic and practical ideas.

If Indonesia understands that the creativity of 240 million people are the most valuable resource of a country and is able to give people the chance to live out this creativity the future will be prosperous and the 2025 – target is realistic. Together with the support of foreign investors these resources can be channeled into the right direction to the benefit of all participants.