Jakarta, Indonesia
“Trailing Spouses” Launch Businesses in Singapore
Jakarta has been known as one of the world’s biggest urban agglomerations, ranking fourth after Guangzhou, Tokyo, and Shanghai. It is home to more than 27 million people and the capital of Indonesia – Southeast Asia’s largest economy. As one of the G20 members, Indonesia has seen rapid economic growth in recent years. The BBC ranked Indonesia as the best place for entrepreneurs to start business in their 2011 survey, beating the United States and Australia. Since Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia, almost all that is happening in the startup scene happens here. It can be said that the entrepreneurship eco-system is quite established. All the major events like Startup Asia, GEW, and Startup Weekend are hosted here in Jakarta. There are also several global entrepreneurship programs in Jakarta, such as Global Entrepeneurship Program Indonesia (GEPI), Endeavour Indonesia, and Founders Institute Jakarta.
Coworking Scene According to an article by Tech In Asia, last year there were 8 coworking space in Jakarta. In recent months, the number of coworking spaces has exploded. Several of the new coworking spaces have opened around the Sudirman Business District in the heart of Jakarta. This is where meetings often take place and where large companies’ offices are based. Space such as WorkOUT, TierSpace, Comma, and Conclave are all within a two miles radius of the Business District. Most of the coworking in Jakarta mainly focus
on startup companies. Venture backed startups often will occupy spaces that are provided by their investors. There are a few coworking that is backed by venture capital like the recently opened East Venture Hive. Backed by Japanese based venture capital East Venture. But the demand for coworking space is a little bit different here in Jakarta. Most bootstrap startups won’t come to coworking spaces because of the fee they have to spend monthly. Bootstrap startups often use their own house for their office and operations because it is cheaper. Not a lot of freelancers in Jakarta work in coffeeshops because the wifi connection is very slow, preferring to work at home instead. So, coworking space here must find an alternative demands beside startup companies. It is quite a different story in Bali, which is the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia. There are a lot of thriving coworking space in Bali compare to Jakarta. The demand for coworking space in Bali are huge especially from foreigners who seek a place to work.
Women Entrepreneurs Women entrepreneurs as startup founders are still few and far between even in Jakarta. But one increeasing trend is middle-class stayat-home mothers selling goods online These women often use instagram to sell products as it is very easy and can be run from a smartphone. Some of them don’t even have a website. They employ the so-called Shoutout for Shoutout (SFS) methodsto increase market
exposure. They are part of several LINE groups for women that own an Instagram account with a minimum of 1000 followers. Each of them will promote everyone else in their LINE group.
Opportunities and Challenges According to McKinsey, the Indonesian economy will become the 7th largest economy by 2030, overtaking Germany and the United Kingdom. This means that Jakarta will be the center of growth. More and more investors are coming to Jakarta to expand their businesses. This also means opportunities for young Indonesians to start businesses. However, entrepreneurship in Indonesia is still weak. Difficult access to capital for small business and poor education has resulted in one of the lowest rates of new business formation in Asia. Besides education, there is a cultural issue; the term ‘success’ in Indonesia means that you hold a steady job in a huge company. There will be a lot of resistance for people who want to venture out and start their own business. Author: Arif Setiawan is an Indonesian serial entrepreneur and an online marketing expert. His latest venture, WorkOUT Coworking Space, is a coworking space inside a sports complex. Currenty, they have one location across the street from the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Before starting WorkOUT, he was the head of the entrepreneurship program for the Mien R. Uno Foundation, in charge of developing an entrepreneurship program and mentoring college students who have started a business.
Ideas from Indonesia CoCoon Pitch Night X TWF
CoCoon Pitch Night X TWF Women Entrepreneurs Edition
Date: Thursday, 24 September, 2015
Partner organization:
Time: 6:30pm-9pm
Application due: Monday, Aug 3rd, 2015
Send your 5 slides business plan to pitch@hkcocoon.org
A shoe to fend off attackers: A 14-year old in Indonesian boy invented an electric shoe that can help women fend of attackers. A Male Contraceptive Pill. A team at an Indonesian university invented a 99% effective male contraceptive pill made from a shrub found on one of the islands. Parental Control App, Kakatu, lets parents control and restrict their children’s activities on smartphones or tablets. (kakatu.web.id)
small children, habitually put themselves and the needs of their business far behind the needs of other family members. Because working from home adds to this conundrum, Woolf Works provides a space where women can focus one hundred percent on their business.
The role of the depressingly named “trailing spouse” can be a blessing and a curse. For many, it’s a chance for reinvention: to study, start a family, take up freelance work or volunteer in the region. For others, it’s a catapult into a world of lost identity, homesickness and complete isolation. For a fortunate third group, though, it’s a time to stretch some entrepreneurial wings and take advantage of Singapore’s relatively transparent business laws, steady economy, and high disposable income levels.
Working from a coworking space allows a real mental switch-off between work and home, resulting in more productive work hours. It also helps against the dreadful isolation and “sameness” of working alone at the kitchen table every day.
Women-led startups are thriving across the world, as the growth of digital technology fuels new business models and flexible work environments. Mothers especially can benefit from being able to reenter the business world on their own terms, outside the box of 9-to-5 corporate life. Across Asia (and the rest of the world), coworking spaces are booming, as the new work era demands flexible workplaces and fluid community interactions. Singapore hosts workspaces for social entrepreneurs, small business teams, artists, designers, and tech startups. Singapore even has Woolf Works – a coworking space especially for women. Woolf Works aims to help women put themselves and their businesses first. It’s no secret that women, especially mothers of
Notable Startups Grabtaxi, mobile taxing booking app. (grabtaxi.com) Haven, the marketplace for ocean freight. (haveninc.com) Carousell, mobil P2P marketplace in South East Asia. (carousell.co) Pie, a free platform for chatting and sending files to coworkers. (pie.co) inMobi, mobile ad platform reaching 1 billion unique mobile devices. (inmobi.com) Muvee, automatic movie editing software. (muvee.com) Redmart, SE Asia’s Customer-Centric Online Grocer. (redmart.com)
Source: spring.gov.sg
Singapore
Jakarta’s Startup Scene on the Rise
Like Hong Kong, Singapore is a major hub for expat workers and the city consequentially finds itself a hub for their accompanying spouses. Often these spouses have left high-powered jobs and rewarding careers themselves to allow their partner to take up a dream post aboard.
“9% of Singapore’s workforce is employed within the start-up sector and 20% of Singapore respondents in the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report have indicated their intentions to start a business within the next 3 years.”
Members are a mix of freelance editors and writers, remote corporate workers, and small business owners. A range of women from a diverse set of industries represent many interesting businesses that share the space, including: Woomentum (woomentum.com), a global crowdsourcing platform; Attaby (attaby. com), a fashion design label; and Tekkie Help (www.tekkiehelp.com), a family-run tech-specialists business. The role of ‘trailing spouse’ can be lonely and unfulfilling. Coworking spaces for women can provide community and support to expatriate women as well as networks and business opportunities. Author: Michaela Anchan opened Woolf Works, a coworking space for women, in Singapore in 2014, to provide a “Room of One’s Own” for women trying to run a home business or do freelance work from their home office.
A Glance at Singapore’s Innovations Micro-volunteering for vision impaired: An app crowdsources information for the visually impaired through micro-volunteering and allows anyone, anywhere to connect and help visually handicapped in seconds. (mysmarteye.starhub.com)
World’s Most Packed Enterpreneurial Ecosystem? Earlier this year, Singapore unveiled JTC LaunchPad@one-north, an expansion to a pre-existing startup facility “Block71” that Economist magazine called “the world’s most tightly packed entrepreneurial ecosystem” in 2014. It houses hundreds of startups, accelerators, and VCs in the biomedical sciences, infocomm, media, electronics and engineering industries. There’s a San Francisco counterpart (Block71 San Francisco) for those startups striving to establish themselves in the US and Singapore tech ecosystems. Life-Saving Jewelry: This wearable fake calls wearers’ mobile phone and alerting family and friends with GPS location if the wearer finds themself in an uncomfortable situation. (the-guardianangel. com)
Heat Recycling: Students in Singapore invented a “domestic heat recovery system” that cuts utility bills by recycling wasted heat generated by the air-con compressor to heat water for the home. Brain-Rewiring: Neurostyle is developing a new way to teach the brain to ‘rewire’ itself – through virtual reality games – that can help stroke patients recover the movement in their affected limbs. (neuro-style.com)
Flatbread Maker: World’s first roti-making robot can produce up to 20 rotis (Indian flatbread) in one go, one roti per minute, with options for oil, thickness and roast levels. (rotimatic.com)
Anxiety-Reducing Vest: T.Jacket is a wearable technology vest that provides customizable deep touch pressure hugs that help calm and comfort people who are anxious or stressed, improving their coping ability and attentiveness. (mytjacket.com)