When Teaching Entrepreneurship is Not Enough

In 2012, after educating lecturers and trainers of trainers for 5 years, Indonesian entrepreneur Ir. Ciputra planned to set up a business incubator. He likened this business incubator to a maternity ward, where mothers can give labor to babies. These babies though are startups. He wanted this incubator set up in every part of Indonesia so as to boost the growth of entrepreneurship. Because teaching is not enough, he reasoned. Training these younger generation in business incubator centers would be more concrete and efficient, to him.

He stated this 2 years ago in the middle of the room in Ciputra Marketing Gallery, where Ciputra World 2 Jakarta is now being built. And now his plan comes true. He’s got CGI, Ciputra-GEPI Incubator. This is why I – one of Ciputra’s reporters – saw him and Mark Wang who was then the Director of Global Entrepreneurship Program for Indonesia (GEPI) – often having a warm discussion on how to realize this grand plan. Wang is now moving somewhere, and as a successor we once had Fung Fuk Lestario and now they have another latest leader I haven’t been introduced to.

CGI, which is located in DBS Tower, Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio Kav 3-5 South Jakarta, is always teemed with young entrepreneurs. They rent the space to work here. With eyes glued to their screens’ laptops, they are seriously working on something. Something that later on will prove that they’re something. There’s so much passion here in the room. Some workshops are also overflowing with participants. I’ve seen it directly how this space can get too small when 50-60 people gathering with I-want-to-learn-something spirit.

Ciputra GEPI Incubator is trategically located in the heart of business district in the capital which means it’ll be much easier for these entrepreneurs to reach but on the other hand, they also have to be ready for the traffic congestion once in while. It’s Jakarta after all. The city where even the paid high way is often clogged, to be perfectly honest.

Ironically, no matter how great Jakartan entrepreneurs can become, none of them is up to now able to conquer this traffic congestion problem. And Gojek (go-jek.com), a unique startup I once heard, now seems to vanish. Either they don’t pay too much attention to their PR campaign or they’re pivoting or even worse falling down.

I’m glad Indonesia now has been advancing a lot in terms of
entrepreneurship. More and more youngsters are very interested in setting up their own business right after graduation, so I heard from a public speaker.

Whether it’s true or just a false claim of his, I know Indonesia is aiming to the right direction. In the meantime, we expect more business or startup incubators like CGI in more cities and towns throughout the country. But for now, this is a great first move.