Tag: Indonesia

  • AIA Group Joins Big Boys to Fuel Gojek

    AIA Group Joins Big Boys to Fuel Gojek

    AIA Group joins a club of high-profile investors to participate in the ride-hailing and payments company’s latest funding round.

    The Indonesian unit of AIA Group, AIA Financial, has invested in Indonesia’s Gojek as part of the latter’s Series F fundraising round. There was no mention of how much money AIA was investing in Gojek or how big a stake it would acquire.

    AIA Financial will work with Gojek to provide life and health insurance services and wellness propositions to its users, drivers, and merchants across Indonesia, the insurer said in a statement on Wednesday.

    According to Crunchbase, Gojek has raised a total of $3.1 billion in funding over 12 rounds. High profile investors in the company include Tencent Holdings and Temasek Holdings.

    Launched in 2011, Gojek has evolved from ride-sharing to allowing its customers to make online payments and order everything from food to groceries and massage services.

  • Grab Seeks to Merge Digital Payment Firms in Indonesia

    Grab Seeks to Merge Digital Payment Firms in Indonesia

    Grab is looking to gain pole position in Indonesia’s budding digital payment market, reportedly exploring a merger between two major players – a local entity it owns and another one backed by China’s Ant Financial.

    A merger between Grab-backed ONO and Ant-backed DANA would give the ride hailer app an edge over its major Indonesia competitor Gojek, which has been vying for the top spot in digital payments with ONO since 2018.

    The deal would also result in Grab acquiring a majority interest in DANA from Indonesian media conglomerate Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek).

    It’s part of the Grab-Gojek battle, one of the sources said.

    According to the report, SoftBank, Grab’s largest shareholder, supports the proposal with the plan having already been discussed in July during a meeting in Jakarta between SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and top Indonesian officials.

    Son is in favor, another source said, adding that negotiation on deal structure with the Indonesian central bank will also be required due to foreign ownership restrictions.

  • Indonesian Regulators Makes Fintech Startup Push

    Indonesian Regulators Makes Fintech Startup Push

    A new online registration system has been introduced by Indonesia’s financial regulator to monitor and further encourage the growth of fintech development in the country.

    The Financial Services Authority (OJK) launched the «Electronic Gateway for Digital Finance Systems» (Gesit) which allows fintech industry stakeholders to gain fintech news access and, more importantly, consult about OJK Infinity.

    OJK Inifinty is a platform the regulator created last year to act as an innovation hub, business incubator and education center for fintech startups. It currently has 121 fintech firms registered, 48 of which are ready for operation.

    Aside from leveraging domestic resources, OJK chairman Wimboh Santoso said there were plans to partner with other Southeast Asian countries to further stimulate fintech development in Indonesia.

  • International economy seeks master franchisees in Indonesia

    International economy seeks master franchisees in Indonesia

    Indonesia’s economy is projected to be three times the size of Australia’s by 2030 – and the GDP of the world’s most-populous Muslim population will rise from $3.2 trillion to $10.1 trillion by the same year*.

    Those figures are driving top international franchise businesses to seek master franchisees in Indonesia.

    The nation already has the largest market for foodservice in ASEAN, and with a fast-rising middle class and even faster growth in middle-class incomes, there continue to be significant changes in lifestyles.

    “The prospects for food franchises in Indonesia look very good as Indonesia continues to outpace many of its neighbors in ASEAN,” says Sean T Ngo, CEO of VF Franchise Consulting, who will be hosting a series of one-on-one meetings between international franchisors and local prospective partners on Friday (September 13).

    “A recent study by Nielsen showed that 11 percent of Indonesians eat out at least once a day, which is higher than the global average of 9 percent. Another lifestyle change supporting the growth of the food franchise sector is a growing trend among workers in big cities is to work long hours either due to obligation or to avoid traffic jams.

    “Thus, the practical solution for eating dinner is to eat out more often and closer to their workplaces. This fact is supported by the Nielsen study mentioned earlier with eating out occurrences being higher in Indonesia than the rest of the world.”

    Trends like these are fuelling growth in Indonesia Food Service Industry by 7.06 percent on a compounded annual growth rate basis, between last year and 2023.

    There are already more than 700 franchise businesses operating nearly 30,000 outlets across Indonesia. Most of these are in foodservice and located in Java, primarily Jakarta, West Java, and East Java provinces. Approximately 400 of the 700 are foreign franchisors, while the rest are local brands.

    Among the top international businesses to seek master franchisees in Indonesia that VF Consulting will introduce to prospective partners this week are:

    • Little Caesars, known for its Hot-N-Ready pizza and Crazy Bread, is the world’s largest carryout-only pizza chain with locations in eight Canadian provinces, all 50 US states along with 26 other countries and territories worldwide.
    • Mango Tree, one of the world’s best-known Thai culinary lifestyle brands, serving contemporary Thai cuisine.
    • Coca, a pioneer in the hotpot-restaurant sector, serving nutritional Thai and Chinese a-la-carte dishes, seafood and the signature hotpot with a variety of broths.
    • Mango Chili, a fun, vibrant social dining space where groups of friends and families can enjoy simple, easy yet original Thai street food.
    • The Belgian Waffle Co, which in just four years has grown to more than 210 outlets in 55 Indian cities and Nepal.
  • Indonesia’s New Capital Already Attracting Speculators

    Indonesia’s New Capital Already Attracting Speculators

    Indonesia’s decision to relocate its capital from Jakarta to eastern Borneo is already attracting speculators and inflating land prices, according to a local industry body, which is urging President Joko Widodo to take measures to differentiate between pure profiteers and real developers.

    I’ve heard that land prices are rising already, said Soelaeman Soemawinata, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Real Estate Companies which represents more than 5,000 member firms.

    We must set developers and speculators apart. Speculators don’t develop anything as they just wait until land prices increase, and then sell. Developers expect the government to secure the land, which can be developed by them.»

    The government controls about 180,000 hectares of land in the future capital, triple of Jakarta, in a $33 billion project to build the new landmark city from scratch with support from both the public and private sector. Indonesia plans to begin construction by 2020-end and start the relocation in phases starting from 2024.

    Despite limited access to lands in the East Kalimantan province due to it mostly being protected and commercial forestry under government control, developers remain upbeat with various plans underway from basic infrastructure to luxury condos.

    Still, the association and Soemawinata want further tightening to screen participants. He said the association wanted President Widodo to provide a legal basis for the participation of private developers» considering that construction could last through several regimes.

    The move to relocate Indonesia’s capital is meant to ease pressure on the congested and sinking Jakarta and spread economic activity outside the island of Java.

  • Amazon In Talks For Stake In Indonesia’s Ride-Hailing Startup Go-Jek

    Amazon In Talks For Stake In Indonesia’s Ride-Hailing Startup Go-Jek

    Amazon.com Inc is in early talks with Go-Jek Group to buy a stake in the Indonesian ride-hailing startup, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

    Details of the stake were not known and the source did not want to be identified as the talks are private.

    Both Amazon and Go-Jek did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

    Indonesia’s first unicorn, Go-Jek, has up to 20 services and has evolved from ride-sharing to allowing its customers to make online payments and order everything from food to groceries.

    Earlier this year, Amazon also bought a stake in British online food delivery company Deliveroo as it competes with Uber Technologies Inc’s Uber Eats in the global race to dominate the market for takeaway meals.

    Reuters reported in July that Amazon is expanding its transportation prowess to do virtually everything short of building a car.

    Go-Jek, which counts Alphabet Inc’s, Alibaba Group Holdings Inc, Tencent Holdings and Visa Inc (V.N) as investors, last raised here funding in July at a valuation of around $10 billion.

  • Uniqlo Indonesia plans several new stores

    Uniqlo Indonesia plans several new stores

    Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo in Indonesia is set to launch new outlets in Batam, as well as Jakarta and Bekasi next month.

    The Batam store, opening in the Grand Batam mall in Penuin, Lubuk Baja, will be the first Uniqlo in Indonesia to be located in the city. The company hopes it will help locals avoid travelling to other cities to purchase the brand’s collections.

    The new Jakarta outlet is slated for Mall of Indonesia in Kelapa Gading, while the Bekasi opening is at Grand Galaxy Park – bringing the total number of locations in the territory to 29 stores in nine cities.

    “The addition of stores in Jakarta and Bekasi will further strengthen our presence in providing our Lifewear products and services in these cities,” said Uniqlo Indonesia’s president director of PT Fast Retailing Naoki Kamogawa.

  • AirAsia launches new route to Belitung, Indonesia

    AirAsia launches new route to Belitung, Indonesia

    AirAsia has launched a new route connecting Kuala Lumpur to Belitung, an island off the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

    In a statement today, AirAsia said its four times weekly direct service will commence on Oct 2, 2019.

    AirAsia regional commercial head Amanda Woo said Belitung is a place with huge untapped tourism potential.

    “We hope that with this new direct service, more and more people will be able to discover this hidden gem.

    “The new route is also a testament to our firm commitment to support the Indonesian government in its efforts to develop 10 new priority tourism destinations,” she said.

    To celebrate this new route, AirAsia is offering special all-in AirAsia BIG member fare from as low as RM79 from Kuala Lumpur.

    Passengers were advised to book their flight on airasia.com or the AirAsia mobile app from today until Aug 25 for travel between Oct 2 and March 28, 2020 to enjoy these special fares.

    BIG members will enjoy zero processing fees when making payment using BigPay.

    In addition to the new route, AirAsia also operates daily flights to Belitung from Jakarta beginning Oct 1, 2019.

    AirAsia currently connects Kuala Lumpur to 14 other Indonesian destinations — Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Bali, Lombok, Yogyakarta, Pekanbaru, Pontianak, Padang, Palembang, Semarang, Makassar, Bandung and Banda Aceh.

  • Papua New Guinea Launches UBS Loan Investigation

    Papua New Guinea Launches UBS Loan Investigation

    Newly elected Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape announced the launch of a full investigation to confirm if the government had violated its own rules regarding a 1.2 billion Australian dollar UBS loan.

    The Swiss bank extended the loan (now valued at $847 million) in 2014 to purchase a key stake in energy firm Oil Search while the current prime minister Marape was then its finance minister.

    According to Marape, the investigation was not only about «looking at leaders» but to reveal the fuller scope of the entire transaction which he believes extends beyond Papa New Guinea.

    The scope is not only confined to investigations in this country, he said.

    UBS transactions have taken place in one or two other jurisdictions outside of our country and so the train of events will be followed by this inquiry… once concluded will put finality to the matters.

    Former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, stepped down due to loss of confidence in his leadership in May this year. Sarape was elected and sworn in one day after, having since made bold statements including his goal to turn Papa New Guinea into the world’s richest black Christian nation.

    Under the new leadership, the government then sold its Oil Search stake and repaid the loan.

    Prior to Sarape’s investigation, the loan had already been flagged by the country’s Ombudsman Commission for breached budget guidelines and Swiss regulator FINMA had also claimed to have contacted UBS in March about the matter.

    The country deserves the fullest scrutiny as to what has happened, Sarape said.

  • Retail sales in Indonesia decline

    Retail sales in Indonesia decline

    Retail sales in Indonesia declined 1.8 percent in June, compared with an annual growth rate of 7.7 percent a month earlier, a central bank survey showed on Thursday.

    The last decline from a year earlier was in January last year when retail sales also dropped 1.8 percent.

    The survey predicted retail sales would rise 2.3 percent on an annual basis in July, when the new school year begins.

  • Mama’s Choice launched in Indonesia

    Mama’s Choice launched in Indonesia

    Halal-certified parenting-product firm Mama’s Choice has launched in Indonesia.

    The business has been founded by a group of young mothers along with parenting influencer Rahne Putri, teaming up with former Lazada Indonesia Co-CEO Duri Granziol. It was launched in response to the group’s noting a lack of safe, Halal and natural personal care products at a price point that is affordable to the average young family.

    “We launched Mama’s Choice because we feel there is a lack of options for expecting and new mothers for safe and affordable care products,” said Mama’s Choice CEO Duri Granziol. “Most mums are overwhelmed with all the choices and don’t want to spend their time reading through all the chemicals that are in most household products, which is why it is our mission to source only the best, safest ingredients to ease the minds of mothers and empowering them to focus on the beauty of their growing family.”

    According to a statement released by the new firm, Mama’s Choice is “a company that puts the health of mothers and babies first and is committed to provide families access to a safe choice for their daily needs, and honest information. Every product is specially formulated from trusted raw ingredients. Each chosen ingredient has been handpicked from nature, with zero harmful chemicals. All Mama’s Choice products are Halal certified, and are tested in Singapore to be free of toxins, and safe to use during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.”

    “In every product development, we always involve experts and also pregnant and nursing women,” said Mama’s Choice head of branding Rahne Putri. “Until now, more than 13,000 mothers have been involved. We do this because we want this product to accommodate what mothers need and make them feel safe when using it.”

    The Mama’s Choice range of products is available at central department store in Grand Indonesia and via its flagship stores on JD.id, Shopee, Lazada and Tokopedia. The brand is currently working to raise awareness and educate the parenting community on maternity, pre- and post-natal care. It plans on being available in more markets across Southeast Asia, commencing with Thailand within the next 12 months.

  • AirAsia keeps improving flight services

    AirAsia keeps improving flight services

    AirAsia won for the 11th time at the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards as the world’s best low-cost airline during the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, Paris, France, in the middle of June 2019. But despite the awards, it has never let itself get complacent.

    The airline keeps its commitment to continue increasing and improving its flight services for domestic routes and foreign routes, by being continually committed to providing low cost but quality flight services on all of the routes it serves.

    In July 2019, the airline launched three new routes from Jakarta to Sorong in West Papua, Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara and Semarang in Central Java. The new routes will start operating on Sept. 1 and will be served by Airbus A320 aircraft with a capacity of 180 seats. In June, AirAsia launched five new domestic routes. The five round-trip domestic routes are Jakarta-Lombok (11 flights per week), Bali-Lombok (seven flights per week), Yogyakarta Kulonprogo-Lombok (three flights per week), Bali-Labuan Bajo (seven flights per week) and Surabaya-Kertajati (three flights per week). AirAsia will start operating its flight services on the five new domestic routes from Aug. 1 onwards.

    In an effort to attract more passengers to the new routes, AirAsia is offering special prices, namely for Jakarta–Lombok starting from Rp 635,000, Bali–Lombok from Rp 243,000, Surabaya–Kertajati from Rp 626,000. All the prices are one-way but include tax and free baggage up to 15 kg.

    The flight tickets, which are offered at a price of Rp 2.49 million for Jakarta-Sorong, Rp 590,000 for Jakarta-Lombok and Rp 341,000 for Jakarta-Semarang, can be ordered at airasia.com and through the AirAsia application. The prices are only for one-way but include passenger service charge and free baggage up to a maximum of 15 kg. The prices are only available on flights booked until July 28, for flights from Sept. 1 until Oct. 26.

    Sorong is the largest city in West Papua and stands as a gateway to Raja Ampat, one of the most exotic and beautiful tourist destinations in Indonesia.

    In Lombok, where AirAsia has recently opened its new hub, travelers can enjoy a number of enchanting destinations, such as Bukit Merese, the Gili Islands, Tanjung A’an, Pink Beach and Mandalika.

    In Semarang, which is also known as the little Netherlands, travelers can trace its history through the old buildings mostly from the Dutch colonial era, while hunting for local delicacies along the exotic journey.

    Besides the route expansion, last month AsiaAsia also offered five million cheap tickets through its Big Sale 2019 program for various domestic and international destinations. The promotional tickets include those on favorite routes, such as Jakarta-Singapore at a price of only Rp 150,000, Medan-Penang from Rp 230,000 and Surabaya-Bali from Rp 359,000.

    The airline has also introduced a new standard of flight comfort with its Airbus A330neo, which will certainly change the public perception of long-distance flights. It will offer the best value of ticket prices for 30 long-distance destinations in 10 major markets of AirAsia Group.

    “Besides developing international connectivity to support the visit of foreign tourists to Indonesia, this year, as we promised, we are focusing on expanding our domestic routes, especially those to eastern Indonesia.,” said AirAsia’s president director Dendy Kurniawan recently during the ceremony to launch the new routes.

    Currently, AirAsia Indonesia operates a total of 292 flights per week from Jakarta to various domestic and international destinations, such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Bangkok, Phuket, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Bali.

    Overall, AirAsia serves more than 700 flights per week on 38 direct routes from 15 cities of Indonesia for domestic and international routes. It has a fleet of more than 200 airplanes of the type Airbus A320-200 and Airbus A330-300 in six countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, India and Japan, with more than 140 international destinations in Asia, Australia, the Middle East and the US.

    “We’ll continue to be committed to providing low cost but quality flight services in Indonesia. We realize it through the principle of efficiency, innovation and operation digitalization. It is not just a marketing gimmick. It is part of our vision and mission to realize ‘Now Everyone Can Fly,” Dendy Kurniawan concluded.

  • DBS Inks Sustainability-Linked Loan in Indonesia

    DBS Inks Sustainability-Linked Loan in Indonesia

    The export financing sustainability-linked loan is the first of its kind in Indonesia. DBS Bank Indonesia has signed a sustainability-linked export financing loan with wooden door manufacturer PT Sumatera Timberindo Industry (STI), the bank said in a press release on Wednesday.

    DBS said the loan is evaluated based on a target of obtaining timber and raw materials from sources certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Its interest rate will be reduced for each shipment of raw material that has an FSC certification that the raw material is responsibly sourced.

    STI is a FSC-certified company focused on responsible sourcing, manufacturing and exporting of sustainable-certified products. According to director Hidayat Ang, STI’s synergies with DBS in advancing sustainability support the company’s long-term growth and empower the local community to do good for the environment.

  • AirAsia launches three new routes for Jakarta flights

    AirAsia launches three new routes for Jakarta flights

    Low-cost carrier AirAsia is launching three new routes for direct flights from Jakarta to Sorong, West Papua; Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara; and Semarang, Central Java. These flights will start operating on Sept. 1 using the Airbus A320 plane with a 180 seat capacity.

    The airline is offering a special price for a one-way ticket for these flights starting from Rp 2.7 million (US$193.97) for Jakarta – Sorong, Rp 634,000 for Jakarta – Lombok, and Rp 341,000 for Jakarta – Semarang. All of these flights are available through airasia.com or the AirAsia mobile apps. The offer is available starting from July 20 to 28 for flights from Sept. 1 to Oct. 26.

    AirAsia Indonesia CEO Dendy Kurniawan said that his company was currently focusing on expanding its domestic and international routes.

    “We showed our commitment to provide affordable and high-quality flights through this offer,” Dendy said through a written statement.

    According to Dendy, the ticket includes 15kg checked baggage for passengers.

    “We hope that our service will be able to boost economic growth, especially in tourism,” Dendy said.

  • Visa takes stake in startup Go-Jek

    Visa takes stake in startup Go-Jek

    Digital-payments company Visa has invested an undisclosed amount into Southeast Asian ride-sharing and services startup Go-Jek giving it a foothold in the company’s payments platform.

    The two companies say they will work together to provide greater options for cashless payments and more seamless experiences for consumers across Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

    Indonesian-based Go-Jek, which has since launched in Vietnam and Thailand, has created Go-Pay which is one of the leading digital-payment providers in Indonesia and established itself as a regional rival to GrabPay

    “The partnership will see Go-Jek and Visa collaborating on innovative payment solutions for digital-first consumers and Southeast Asia’s unbanked and underserved population,” the two companies said in a statement.

    “Financial inclusion in Southeast Asia continues to be an urgent and important issue. The vast majority of Indonesia’s transactions are still cash-based and the adoption of digital payment services is as low as one-in-four users in markets like Vietnam. Addressing this opportunity could increase Gross Domestic Product levels by between 9 per cent and 14 per cent, even in relatively large Southeast Asian economies,” the statement said.

    Visa regional president Asia Pacific, Chris Clark said Visa and Go-Jek share common objectives. “We both want to make everyday life more convenient, whether it’s how people move around town in Southeast Asia’s fast-growing urban areas, or making it easier for people to pay and be paid all over the world. We also have a shared goal to bring formal financial services to the unbanked and underserved, including micro, small and medium businesses. Through this partnership, we will explore ways to leverage the power of Go-Jek and Visa’s networks to expand financial access in Southeast Asia.”

    Go-Jek president Andre Soelistyo said Visa’s investment in the company is an endorsement of its business model.