"One of the prerequisites to becoming an advanced country is entrepreneurs. Thus, not only infrastructure, human resource development, we also need to prepare excellent and innovative entrepreneurs," he highlighted here on Thursday.
He made the statement while representing President Joko Widodo at the inauguration of the central leadership board (DPP) of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Organization (BMWI) for the 2023–2026 period.
According to the minister, Indonesia's entrepreneurship rate currently stands at just 3.47 percent. Meanwhile, in Singapore, whose population is around 5 million, the entrepreneurship rate has reached 8.6 percent of the total population.
In Malaysia and Thailand, the rate is above 4 percent, and it is more than 10–12 percent on average in developed countries.
The minister emphasized that by 2045, when the nation will mark its 100th independence anniversary, Indonesia is predicted to be among the four largest economies in the world after the US, China, and India.
The prediction has become an important reason for universities to prepare youngsters or graduates to become entrepreneurs.
To push the achievement of the 4 percent entrepreneurship rate, this year, the government is targeting to create 1 million new entrepreneurs so that the entrepreneurship rate can increase from 3.47 percent to 3.95 percent.
"I, together with Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, and Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno, have a national entrepreneurship program that will create 1 million new established entrepreneurs," Masduki explained.
In addition, through the Job Creation Law, the government is providing ease of doing business so that informal businesses can enter the formal businesses category.
"Thus, we are making it easier (to create) legal entities to do business. It is easy if (people) want to form an individual limited liability company; they do not need to deposit large capital. We are also making it easier to establish cooperatives," he said.
Obtaining business identity numbers (NIB) has also been made easier, he added.
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Translator: Kuntum Khaira, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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