JAKARTA - Indonesia has the opportunity to become the largest digital economy center in Southeast Asia due to high internet penetration and the dominance of a young population that is adaptive to technology.
Based on government data, national internet penetration has reached more than 80 percent with a number of users of around 229 million people.
The candidate for the General Chair of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (BPP Hipmi) Anthony Leong assessed that the digital economy will be one of the strategic sectors that support Indonesia's economic growth in the future.
For this reason, he encouraged young entrepreneurs to be more active in developing businesses in the fields of e-commerce, social commerce, artificial intelligence (AI), and live streaming commerce, which are growing.
Anthony said Indonesia is currently the largest digital economy in Southeast Asia with a value of around 100 billion US dollars in 2025, and this value is expected to continue to grow in the next few years.
The e-commerce sector is still considered the largest contributor to the national digital economy with a transaction value of around US$71 billion or an increase of 14 percent compared to the previous year.
"The digital economy is no longer the future, but has become the economic reality today. Young Indonesian entrepreneurs must be the main players, not just spectators in their own country," said Anthony Leong in his statement.
He explained that changes in consumer behavior after the pandemic have driven a major transformation in global trade patterns, and people are now increasingly accustomed to making transactions through digital platforms, social media, to live streaming commerce that combines entertainment, interaction, and transactions directly.
According to Anthony, the live commerce trend is a great opportunity for MSMEs and local brands to expand their markets with more efficient promotional costs.
"Now a mobile phone can become a store, studio, and a global market. Therefore, young entrepreneurs must adapt to changes in digital consumption patterns," he said.
Anthony assessed that live streaming commerce has great potential because it is able to provide direct interaction between sellers and consumers, thereby increasing engagement, trust, and purchase decisions in real time.
He said that this trend is now one of the main drivers of global e-commerce growth.
However, he admitted that there were still many young entrepreneurs who had not optimally utilized digital economic opportunities due to limitations in technology literacy, digital branding, market access, and the ability to create creative content.
Therefore, Anthony encouraged Hipmi to be more active in building a national digital entrepreneurship ecosystem through various programs such as AI training, digital marketing, live commerce academy, creator economy, to digital business matching between countries.
"Hipmi must be an accelerator for Indonesian digital entrepreneurs. We must help members not only be strong offline, but also strong on global digital platforms," he said.
Anthony also assessed that strengthening the digital economy could accelerate the birth of new middle-class entrepreneurs in Indonesia.
He highlighted that more than 99 percent of national business units are still dominated by MSMEs, but most of them still face obstacles in increasing business scale due to limited market access and productivity.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
