Alibaba Indonesia

Alibaba Group vice president Brian Wong said the AGC is in line with its mission to help Indonesian entrepreneurs in the digital economy. Source: Shutterstock.com

Alibaba reaches out to Indonesian SMEs as part of global business transformation

ALIBABA continues its mission to encourage global business transformation in the digital era by holding its Alibaba Global Course (AGC) in Indonesia.

AGC is organized by Alibaba Business School, which was founded in 2008. The program aims to improve the ability of small and medium enterprises (SME) in their understanding of the e-commerce industry.

Around 1,000 SME owners participated in the course, with speakers from Taobao University as well as pioneers of the domestic digital economy such as Tokopedia, Lazada Indonesia, UCWeb and Alibaba.com.

“We need to be more proactive and adaptive to change. Other than the government’s strategic move to support the e-commerce market, we also welcome initiatives from the private sector, such as AGC, as it is in line with our mission to increase the capacity of Indonesian digital economic players,” said Rudy Salahuddin, from Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, in a statement.

As well as the AGC, according to Alibaba vice-president Brian Wong, there will be continued programs through partners in Indonesia such as Tokopedia and Lazada.

“We will have 30 smaller training programmes per month depending on the needs of the market,” he said.

“Over time, we can even work with local universities to help students contribute to the tech ecosystem.”

These training programs are developed by Taobao University, Alibaba’s education platform and training unit, which provides learning opportunities to e-commerce practitioners.

According to Wong, Alibaba regards Indonesia as an important market, due to its similarities with China in terms of the large market.

“We see huge potential in Indonesia, and e-commerce in this country has unique characteristics. More investors are coming in because they can feel the similarity between the two countries and these emerging markets are transforming digitally,” he said.

Yet according to Wong, logistics and payment systems are the primary challenges surrounding e-commerce in Indonesia.

“These challenges existed in China as well. I think the most important thing is continuing to encourage young people, when they are going into this business, to build the right ecosystem to address the problems and give SMEs platforms to the ecosystem,” he said.

Despite this challenge, Wong remains optimistic about the digital future of Indonesia with emphasis on the e-commerce ecosystem.  The future lies with those who build it.

“These SMEs are pioneers. They are the leaders and they only need to keep the confidence and seize the opportunity. In this technology era, more people can contribute and access market,” he said.

“There is no better time than now to use this economic model that could create prosperity and inclusiveness for everyone.”