Incubation and Mentorship Programs Flock to Indonesia

For the past few months, we've been seing the number of incubation and mentorship programs starting to educate tech startup founders in Indonesia. We have local ones such as Merah Putih Inc (DailySocial is involved here), East Ventures Alpha, Jakarta Founder Institute, Project Eden, Telkomsel Bootcamp and numerous other similar programs.

These programs have existed since the beginning of the year and for the past few months it seems obvious that lots of entities want to tap this growing industry. Tech companies, telco/carriers and giant holding groups were amongst the most excited to start these programs and of course in-line with their business model.

2010 was the year for investors flocking to Indonesia and I happened to have met several of them as they went looking around the market, meeting people, looking opportunities to invest in Indonesia. Conclusion: the market is ready, the startups are not. These investors never came back, they were dissappointed. I told them that currently Indonesian tech startup scene needs mentorship, we've got some brave talented entrepreneurs but they're still young and need guidance from mature entrepreneurs. And by "guidance" I don't mean taking over their company.

So this year, 2011, is the year for Indonesian startups to learn about tech business moving beyond programming and other technical issues, but to oversee a tech company from every angle: infrastructure, management and business.

If you think we now have a lot of incubation/mentorship programs, buckle up because there's more to come. This is going to be a trend in 2012, where more of these programs will be available for Indonesian tech entrepreneurs. For the entrepreneurs, this will give them knowledge, network and probably a bit of capital. And for investors, it's better to go this way because it gives them less risk for ignorant founders and of course they can lower the company's valuation.

It's a win-win. Really.

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