Witnessed By The Minister Of SOEs, Pupuk Indonesia And Subsidiaries Of Telkom Forms Of Agrifund: Ready To Investment In The Startup Of The Agriculture Sector

Photo: Doc. Pupuk Indonesia

JAKARTA SOE companies are increasingly attracted by startups. Including PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) which has just signed a Head of Agreement (HoA) with MDI Venture which is a subsidiary of PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero). The President Director of Pupuk Indonesia Bakir Pasaman said that the signing of this collaboration is the support for Pupuk Indonesia to support digital economic growth in the country. "This collaboration is a synergy between Pupuk Indonesia and MDI Ventures to comprehensively strengthen the agricultural sector and industry in Indonesia from upstream to downstream," Bakir said in his statement, Monday, September 26. Through the signing of this collaboration, Bakir said, Pupuk Indonesia and MDI Ventures will also form an Agrifud which will later be able to invest in digital companies or startups in the agricultural sector. This includes opening opportunities for other sector SOE companies to join as investors in Agrifund. "The business cooperation between SOEs and startups through the Agrifund Agrifund Company owned by SOEs is then expected to become the driving wheel for Indonesia's food security," said Bakir. HoA's signing between Pupuk Indonesia and MDI Ventures is held at ICE BSD, Banten. The activity is included in the series of SOE Startup Day 2022 events which will be held for three days starting September 26-28, 2022.

On the same occasion, SOE Minister Erick Thohir said Indonesia's digital economy will be the largest in Southeast Asia by 2030, with a value of around IDR 4,500 trillion or the equivalent of 40 percent of the total economy in Southeast Asia. The value of this potential is expected to be optimized by state-owned companies.

Erick further explained that the majority of Indonesia's population is currently under 35 years old or about 54 percent of the total population. Through Startup Day, Erick asked SOEs to build an ecosystem that can optimize the potential of the digital economy, which of course collaborates with startups.

"Since the beginning, SOEs have a number of venture capital, where this BUMN venture has invested in 336 startups, many of which have also started to become unicorns," said Erick Thohir.

Through the Startup Daya event, Erick hopes that SOE companies collaborate with Indonesian startups. "Alhamdulillah, today there are 150 exhibitions present, then 250 startups have been adjusted to 12 SOE clusters, then 22 SOEs are trying to see if there is a potential business matching," said Erick.

The digital economy has also proven to be one of the pillars of national economic resilience amid a slowdown due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital economy has an important role starting from providing digital solutions to daily needs, creating jobs, and encouraging achievement and competitiveness of Indonesian technology.