26 delegates from Indonesia were welcomed by Flinders University to participate in its entrepreneurial short course called, “Start-up Ecosystems”.
According to a recent report, the entrepreneurial short course will build the skills of Indonesian entrepreneurs and introduce them to Australia’s start-up ecosystem of investors, associations, new business success stories and potential collaborators.
The course is part of the Australia Awards in Indonesia (AAI) short course scholarships funded by the Australian Government.
It will be run in Australia and Indonesia, providing the participants opportunities to visit Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
The University’s New Venture Institute (NVI) is a top-ranking entrepreneurial incubator in the Asia Pacific region. It was chosen by the Australian Government to run the course.
Participants will have a dynamic 16-day schedule of events and practical sessions planned. During which, the incubator will share its globally-renowned enterprise and innovation expertise.
Moreover, this will foster new connections to benefit participants and potential Australian partners.
Participants who were chosen for the course come from a variety of industries.
They are either in the early stages of establishing their businesses or provide support programs like incubators and accelerators.
The start-up businesses of the participants include a crowd-powered map to help those with visual impairments to navigate big cities.
There is also an e-commerce platform that connects small-scale fishermen to buyers and there is also a creator of building materials from mycelium, which is the vegetative part of fungus.
The University has deep ties with Indonesia through the 40-year connection.
With a population of 254 million, Indonesia’s economy has been growing at a remarkable rate of around 5% each year, over the past decade, and is forecast to be the world’s seventh largest economy by 2030.
Indonesia is already the largest economy in South East Asia with both its economy and start-up sector on the rise.
The University’s deep connection with the nation enables a strong understanding of Indonesia’s growing entrepreneurial sector and the opportunities for innovative and beneficial partnerships.
It has a unique capacity to inspire bold new ways of thinking as well as develop people who are capable of changing industries and creating new businesses.
Central to this is NVI, with its world-class facilities and outstanding skills in developing entrepreneurial capabilities.
This has proven to be immensely effective in fuelling new solutions and bringing ideas to life.
Course participants attended a pre-course workshop in Bandung, Indonesia and will complete the course with a final Bandung workshop in March 2019.
The AAI initiative equips individuals in Indonesia with the knowledge to grow and strengthen their own businesses or those they work for.
Moreover, it bolsters the relationships between Indonesia and Australia.
The entrepreneurial short-term course was developed in consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and industry representatives.
This was done in line with the Indonesian government’s objectives to develop its digital economy, create a vibrant start-up community, transform traditional markets to online markets and generate more capital for start-ups.
