[ti:Indonesia's 'Technopreneurs' Help Fuel Economic Growth] [ar:Mario Ritter] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.26]Economics Report. [00:05.40]Indonesia has one of the world's [00:08.24]fastest growing economies, [00:10.28]expanding at a rate of [00:12.75]six percent this year. [00:14.42]Technology is helping fuel [00:17.65]that growth, and producing [00:19.69]a new generation [00:21.15]of young entrepreneurs. [00:23.75]One of these "technopreneurs" [00:26.93]is Nadiem Makarim. [00:29.37]He graduated from [00:31.41]the Harvard Business School [00:32.95]in Boston, Massachusetts. [00:34.84]He returned home and launched Go-Jek. [00:38.89]This service connects [00:40.98]motorcycle taxis, called ojeks, [00:43.87]with people who need a ride [00:46.41]or a delivery. [00:47.95]Go-Jek uses online maps, [00:50.82]mobile phones and a call center. [00:53.71]The aim is to improve Jakarta's [00:57.00]disorganized motorcycle taxi system. [01:00.10]Nadiem Makarim says everything [01:03.24]depends on a business plan. [01:05.64]NADIEM MAKARIM: "If you want to do good, [01:07.23]there needs to be [01:08.78]a business model behind it. [01:09.82]If you want sustainable impact, [01:11.87]then you need a market [01:14.19]incentive to do that. [01:16.38]I firmly believe that business [01:20.03]and just straight up [01:22.00]rational business growth, [01:25.02]profitable business growth [01:27.01]and social impact [01:28.41]are not mutually exclusive." [01:29.80]Go-Jek recently [01:31.10]won ten thousand dollars [01:32.94]in a competition through the American [01:35.46]State Department's Global [01:37.31]Entrepreneurship Program. [01:39.82]Indonesia is one of five countries [01:43.10]in this program which links [01:45.44]startup businesses with investors. [01:49.29]Many startups [01:51.02]are Internet-based services. [01:53.16]Indonesia already has more than [01:56.75]seven hundred startups online, [01:59.18]and new ones are launched every week. [02:02.75]Half of Indonesians still live on [02:06.54]less than two dollars a day. [02:08.48]But Indonesia has a young population [02:12.06]interested in trying new technology. [02:15.97]Right now, about forty-five million [02:19.45]Indonesians, or only about one in five, [02:22.59]use the Internet. [02:24.36]But about half of those people [02:27.12]use mobile devices to go online, [02:30.26]and those numbers are only growing. [02:33.69]Some experts say the conditions [02:36.81]for local entrepreneurs [02:38.70]are the best in the world. [02:40.54]Still, the World Bank currently [02:43.72]ranks Indonesia one hundred twenty-first [02:47.41]out of one hundred eighty-three [02:49.72]economies in ease of doing business. [02:53.09]The biggest barrier to entrepreneurs [02:55.79]is a lack of financing. [02:57.38]Also, economists say Indonesia [03:01.76]needs more entrepreneurs. [03:04.10]They now make up less than [03:06.54]one percent of the workforce. [03:08.73]The rate is over seven percent [03:11.96]in nearby Singapore, and almost [03:14.95]twelve percent in the United States. [03:18.25]Indonesia's biggest bank, [03:20.94]Bank Mandiri, expects [03:23.48]to increase loans by as much [03:25.92]as twenty-five percent this year. [03:28.32]Demand is growing for credit [03:31.01]for small businesses [03:33.35]and for consumers. [03:34.50]Leonard Theosabrata helped [03:38.84]start Whiteboard Journal. [03:40.49]This online publication [03:42.58]offers a place for young designers [03:45.02]to show their products. [03:46.91]He says Indonesia [03:49.20]has a lot of opportunity [03:51.04]for entrepreneurs who take a risk. [03:55.07]And that's the VOA Special English [03:57.95]Economics Report. [03:59.82]I'm Mario Ritter.