Indonesia From tradition to innovation
[Music]
i’m here to tell a story
a story that’s more relatable to you
than you might think
a story with a call to action
so back then during my father’s high
school days in jakarta
before he and his friends would get
together for practice they typically
head down to the neighborhood wadong
what’s a watering you might wonder well
these are typically
mom and pop stores which sell drinks
sweets
rice crackers but the crown jewel on
this watering in particular
was the creepy which are indonesian
spicy crisps
this creepy would be a medium of barter
among the students for
notes and homework and all of that they
really cherished it
as much as we cherish our ham and cheese
paninis here at catrion
and so at this watering typically would
be a middle-aged auntie who would be
the water keeper and next to her would
be this small boy who would help out
so if someone paid with a slightly
larger note for example
he’d have to run down a few blocks to
get some change
and so a packet of this creepy back then
was 50 indonesian rupiah
which when we account for inflation is
roughly 11 pence today
and a student back then like my father
would typically have 100 to 150 rupiah
and so a packet of these cryptic would
be at least a third of his income
but this is indonesia so of course
there’d naturally be a lot of room for
interaction and negotiation
and typically what they do is they’d go
in groups
and they’d say to the auntie oh we’ll
pay for three you give us one
return and it’d also be pretty common
for these waterings to sell on credit
so for things like cigs and snacks for
friends and regulars it’d be pretty
common
uh to keep tabs like you would do in
bars
and so another prized possession of this
watering would be the bakmi gorang which
is an indonesian fried noodle dish
this was served in banana leaves uh with
peanut chili oil sauce poured on top
called the sambal kachang
and this was always served in a leaky
plastic bag with grease dropping all
over it
and actually more precious than the
noodles itself was the sambal kachang
once it was out it was out so my father
remembers that people would race to the
warren there’d always be a small
bustling crowd formed in front of it
and that it wasn’t uncommon at all for
fights to erupt over just this chili
sauce
and he says that you knew what you were
getting this creepy and the me would
always be
as good as you remembered it to be
when they all went back to school for
the 20-year reunion
the wiring itself was gone and all they
could talk about was how
good that could be and how good that me
was
and i think that shows how deeply rooted
and ingrained this water was in their
hearts and in their minds
these weddings are very much personal
small scale
family-owned businesses you’d identify
this water with the auntie who ran it
each watering in its own neighborhood
carried its own sense of homeliness and
nostalgia
and so for many indonesians like my
father these waterings amounted to so
much more than
simple talk shops it’s what he
associated his childhood with
his environment his fondest memories
with his friends
at the heart of it all is a personal
element that
character something about handing over
that 50 rupiah to the auntie
which is something you wouldn’t
necessarily experience at a 7-eleven
so what is it to me you might wonder why
do i care
my father and his father and his father
grew up and
lived in indonesia but i come from hong
kong
and typically once a year i’d be staying
with my grandparents in jakarta
and ensuring these brief stays that i’d
noticed all these very bizarre ways
people were making a living people who
were offering these
no infrastructure illegitimate services
just to get by
but i’ve actually come to appreciate how
homely and iconic these
indonesian idiosyncrasies are i’m
comforted in knowing that
every time i’m in indonesia i’ll be able
to head down the street
and in that obscure spot find my
favorite one man
martabakwarung you see these things
are what indonesia is all about for me
now indonesia is southeast asia’s
largest and most promising economy
and it terrifies me however though that
one day
people will no longer care for things
like the martabak
things like the creepy and that an even
bigger problem yet is that these
torchbearers people like
the warang antis will be left behind by
the economy
it’s important that we uplift and
empower these communities these torch
bearers
while we want to retain as much of this
beloved beloved tradition as possible
we need to make sure that we innovate so
that people can continue to
live and love using these things and
that the people offering these services
are able to lead better lives with
better prospects
i’ll show you that in the coming
examples that
understanding the market in a place like
indonesia is crucial
that establishing networks and
raising accessibility is what the most
successful startups in indonesia
are doing to innovate from tradition
so let’s go back to the example of
bottoms
in recent years jakarta specifically has
been rapidly urbanizing
we’ve seen that new office locations are
springing up
in all sorts of pockets of jakarta and
as a result these waterings have become
increasingly
displaced or shut down they’re seen as
untidy backwards these wadungs have been
the same for decades and
people like the boy and the water auntie
they aren’t getting better off
and so in such a time as this we need to
equip these
micro businesses with scale efficiency
modernity and several
innovative startups like waran pinta or
bukolapak
have done exactly this they’ve innovated
water moves so they understand that
indonesian customers need and want
things like free wi-fi
free charging capabilities so they’ve
given water with this
some even have phone top up what this
does is it keeps watering functionally
competitive
and attracts youngsters to them another
thing they’re doing is that they’re
linking these waterings directly to
producers
so that for example these waterings can
source their noodles for cheaper to make
the bakmi gourang
and that they have higher profit margins
and equally as importantly we’re seeing
e-payment systems card readers buy now
pay later
all this is being introduced by these
firms and that raises accessibility
convenience and ease with which
indonesians can
interact at these waterings and spend at
them
at the moment we’re seeing that
waterings can live to serve a new
generation of customers
now another aspect of the indonesian way
of life that i’d like to talk about
is fishing some of you may know that
indonesia is a sprawling archipelago
spanning thousands of miles and that
indonesia fishing is such a crucial part
of indonesian heritage
fish is by far indonesia’s superfood and
it’s the livelihood of many many
indonesians
personally one of my favorite memories
of indonesia was when
me and my family stayed in bali for a
wedding and
at night we’d be in these wooden
restaurants alongside the beach
and we’d be eating the freshest seafood
caught by bali fishermen who were maybe
a couple hundred meters away and it was
just magical
now i’m sure many tourists have had such
similar
magical unforgettable memories there
and it all sounds merry and well
but the sobering truth is that on the
other side
these fishermen have been struggling for
as long as we can remember
i’m talking about fishing villages that
have been poor and left behind
for centuries people without access to
health care who could only dream of
sending their children to school
people who barely get by by doing the
only thing they know how to do
which is fishing and in recent years
we’re actually seeing that less and less
indonesians
are becoming fishermen precisely because
they aren’t making enough to survive
these are people who lack business
skills information about the market
any sort of technology they often get
scammed by brokers who
force them to lower their prices
fortunately we’re seeing that firms like
aruna
are stepping in to bridge this gap to
innovate indonesian fishery what they’ve
done is that they’ve
established an online marketplace where
these fishermen are finally able to sell
directly to the customers
these are b2b and b2c can networks
on this online marketplace where they
can sell to wholesalers retailers people
like me and you
who want to buy seafood as a result
they’re getting much fairer prices for
their catch
and we’re also seeing that the people
buying the seafood are getting better
prices as well
we’re also seeing that accessibility has
risen substantially from this
that all transactions are being done on
this online marketplace
and that people are going into these
indonesian villages
helping these fishermen integrate
technology into
their daily lives and into their
livelihoods
and as a result of firms like aruna
we’re finally seeing that
things are starting to turn around for
these indonesian fishermen that
standards of living have gone up that
monthly wages have gone up three to
twelve times
now there are countless other examples
like this that i’d like to go on about
but
for now i’d like to move on to the
social aspect of all of this
you may not realize but all of this is
social entrepreneurship
it’s improving lives when we innovate
with identity at the heart of it all we
end up making
a substantial quantifiable social impact
it’s not just something sentimental
all these examples i’ve shown you have
improved the lives of who they set out
to help
whether it be motorcycle drivers or
fishermen
or families the aunties
they’ve given them financial resilience
made their day-to-day wages more secure
and given the better prospects for their
families
now you may be thinking that i’m cherry
mate cherry picking my examples that
i’m only talking about the once in a
lifetime success stories
the billion dollar ipos i’ve made it
onto wall street
i’m here to tell you that this is
actually happening in all sorts of crazy
ventures
of varying sizes that innovate and
celebrate
indonesian heritage let me give you an
example that hits closer to home for me
so my aunt works with this humble social
enterprise called
duanyam which goes to remote indonesian
islands like florida’s
and goes to these women villagers
and upscales their tradition of basket
weaving which has been passed down for
generations
to make products like sandals baskets
tote bags to be sold on their website
and this gives
these women villagers access to a whole
market within and out of indonesia
but most importantly it empowers them to
financially support themselves
with their own tradition now what i’m
trying to show you from this
is that there are so many innovative
ventures like this
that may be outside of the public eye
but that
improved livelihoods so much more than
we realize
and i think these examples all show that
identity is found in all sorts of
crevices and the nooks and crannies of
daily life that
in fact all of them took something
commonplace
and thought to reimagine the way they
worked these were all
visionaries who dared to innovate who
dared to improve yet preserve the most
quintessential indonesian elements
they all understood the market they were
in they will establish vital networks
and
they raise accessibility with which
indonesians can
interact with these traditions
now you may be wondering what’s the
takeaway for all of us listening here
may not be indonesian well
i think what’s been done in indonesia
has been vastly impressive
that innovating on identity improves
lives
it allows what we love growing up what
we love growing up with
to be shared with our children and their
children
and that these models have shown us that
there’s actually a whole ocean
of ideas and opportunities that is
waiting to be jumped on
and that every one of us should be
encouraged to look and see
that’s the first thing to do looking and
seeing the founder of watering pinta
saw that there was a watering that was
about to be displaced and he thought
why don’t i work with that owner to tidy
it up instead of watching it go the
founder of aruna saw that there was
massive potential along the coastline
but that these fishermen lacked
access to information into technology
and so i encourage everyone to just
start actively paying
attention in today’s world
it’s so hard not to be distracted so i
want everyone to just
pause from obsessively moving forward
with life
and in the present ponder on what’s
something you’ll be
looking back on in 20 years time and
saying
ah how i miss that what you what will
you be talking about at your 20-year
reunion
start thinking about what everything
what everyday things you cherish
you know what makes where you live home
what do you associate your own identity
and your own upbringing with what
experiences make you
you then we can start thinking about
what needs changing and how we can use
what we have
to innovate maybe what skill sets of
yours could you employ
i’m telling you you don’t have to be any
sort of genius
tech genius or a mathematician you could
be
a social media guru an athlete a chef a
community volunteer
anyone who’s passionate about anything
and has their own particular skill set
can innovate from tradition
small ideas turn into big ones and
thanks to you
the world would get to know the
wonderful things that made you
you thanks very much
[Music]
you