The world of digital startup business continues to grow as the Indonesian economy grows and develops in recent years. The birth of several unicorn startups in Indonesia such as Gojek, Tokopedia, Bukalapak and others have helped the national digital startups to accelerate their business, seek access and capital opportunities through various startup business meeting forums. In line with this, Vocational Education Program Universitas Indonesia held the 2019 Southeast Startup Summit (SEASS) in Singapore on 22-23 November 2019 which aims to encourage more competitive startups that are able to take advantage of the growing Asian economic market.
The event which took place at PSB Academy Marina Square with the theme “Building competitive startup in Asia Emerging Market” which was opened by the Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore I Gde Ngurah Swajaya and Director of Vocational Education Program Universitas Indonesia Prof. Dr. Sigit Pranowo Hadiwardoyo, DEA. The seminar forum presented Mr. keynote speaker. Caleb Yap – Executive Director of DBUB, Hari Sungkari – Deputy of Infrastructure of Bekraf, Budi Soetjipto – Deputy Chancellor for research and collaboration at Pertamina University and Roy Darmawan – ASEAN Economic Observer. The event was also attended by the Official Trade Attaché for Singapore, ASEAN Startup Experts, the Singapore Diaspora Community and hundreds of delegates from campuses including UI, NUS, Pertamina University, PSB Academy, and Startup Actors, Experts, Capital Venture and so on.
This forum is also a competition for digital-based business model startups that are participated by no less than 20 teams from various ASEAN countries. Summit participants also had the opportunity to visit Hangar 71 NUS Entreprise to study the startup ecosystem and business incubators and observe the business processes of several fast-growing startups, including Gumi Asia (animation), KALMS (IT), DBUB Singapore (blockchain) and D2-1 (fashion).
The highlight of the event was a pitching event which was attended by 10 nominated startup participants and continued with a business meeting. Also attending to take part in this event were Mr. Derek Tan – Vice President of Singpost, Mr. Adam Tan – Founder of Effro, Mr Daniel Stuart – CEO of AnyConnect, Mr. Nigel Mathiaz – Managing Director of ConciergeAsia, Mr. Timothy Santika – CEO & Founder of Frea, Ms Adhyanta Rahma – Founder of Art-I Production, Mrs. Tanya Gromenko – Founder of Singapore Guide Book, Mr Shane Lee – Founder of 6oz Espresso Bar, and Ms Carina Widjaja – Managing Director of DFW.
This event is the third annual agenda of the Banking and Financial Administration Study Program which is routinely held in a marathon in ASEAN countries. “We encourage banking students to take part in global forums so that they can develop themselves and later be able to compete as professionals from other countries,” explained Dede Suryanto, Head of the UI Vocational Banking and Financial Administration Study Program. This event is a form of positive synergy between campus and industry driven by Vocational Education Program Universitas Indonesia and Pertamina University and supported by startups and experts in Singapore.
