Government Wants to Send 200 Technopreneurs Every Year To Incubate in Silicon Valley

In order to realize the government's plan to produce 200 technopreneurs annually and a total of 1000 technopreneurs by 2020, the government through the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology will partner with startups and technology companies based in Silicon Valley, United States. Later, giant companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, as well as other startups and incubators are asked to accommodate 200 technopreneurs who have passed the selection in Indonesia.

“I have spoken with Sergey Brin, if possible, don't just 7 startups from Indonesia are incubated [in the program. Google Launchpad Accelerator] but 200 startups from Indonesia can also be given mentoring from experts and actors from technology companies and startups in Silicon Valley," said Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara during the Discussion Degree event "@5minutes for E-Commerce 2016idEA at Hotel Le Meridien Jakarta (22/01).

Rudiantara emphasized that so far in Indonesia the function of the incubator, activities such as hackathons, and others did not have a definite continuation. The winners and participants were not given further learning information to be able to develop successful startups and survive for the long term.

For this reason, in addition to developing mentoring activities in Indonesia, Kominfo, assisted by e-commerce players, local and foreign startup owners, is expected to be able to raise funds together and contribute to prospective e-commerce players in Indonesia.

"I hope that through each company's CSR program, the available money can be allocated for our [government] plan to create reliable and quality technopreneurs in Indonesia," said Rudiantara.

The government is also actively conducting promotional activities for foreign investors to start investing in Indonesia to invest in the e-commerce, technology and other industries. One of the activities mentioned by Rudiantara is to approach entrepreneurs known as 'super angel' from Canada who often invests and provides seed funding for early stage startups, Wesley Clover.

"In particular, I invite Wesley to participate in investing in Indonesia, especially for e-commerce, startups and other technology companies from Indonesia which are currently increasingly exciting," said Rudiantara.

Fair tax handling and support from the ministry of commerce

On the same occasion, representatives of the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) also gave their support to the e-commerce industry in Indonesia. One of the concrete evidences that the Directorate General of Taxes has done for e-commerce in Indonesia is by forming an e-commerce team at the DGT that specifically regulates, monitors, and supports the running of local and foreign e-commerce businesses.

"We from the DGT want to be partners and partners for e-commerce players, not a barrier, so it is important for DGT to apply fair taxes for e-commerce players and other businesses," said Yulianingsih, a representative of the Directorate General of Taxes.

DGT noted that until now it is still difficult to supervise the e-commerce industry. In addition to the increasing number, there is no clear report on who the e-commerce and SME actors in Indonesia are, so that the existing financial reports and transactions are not yet transparent.

"For this reason, it is important for DGT to immediately establish a National Payment Gateway, so that relevant parties such as Bank Indonesia, OJK, Directorate General of Taxes can monitor all financial activities that occur in e-commerce," said Yulianingsih.

The Directorate General of Taxes also hopes that in the future all foreign technology and e-commerce companies that have their parent companies abroad will be able to report their companies in Indonesia, not just branch companies so that the Directorate General of Taxes can be taxed accordingly. This is important so that fair treatment of all e-commerce in Indonesia can be realized.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Trade, represented by the Director General of Domestic Trade Sri Agustina, said that later regulations would be made that clearly state that all foreign investors who invest in startups and e-commerce services in Indonesia must function as partners.

"We will also later regulate regulations that are light touch regulation, namely regulations that are easing in nature for SMEs and e-commerce beginners," said Sri Agustina.

Until now, the Ministry of Trade, assisted by Kominfo, DGT, idEA and other e-commerce associations and institutions, is still developing clear and certainly easy rules and regulations, so that SMEs and e-commerce institutions in Indonesia can accommodate and provide better services to the public. Indonesia, which is currently increasingly enthusiastic about accepting various types of e-commerce.