Today’s, Indonesia is a country with an increasing number of startups. Along with these developments, venture capital has become an important stakeholder that supports the startup ecosystem. Monday (12/7/2021), Dr Eddi Danusaputro, the CEO of Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI), shared his knowledge and experience in managing Bank Mandiri’s Venture Capital in the Bank Management class at the Bachelor of Management.
The disruption by startups and technology companies have already existed in almost all industry lines. The existence of Gojek, Traveloka, and Ruangguru are examples of how technology can disrupt a large part of our lives, replacing conventional businesses previously irreplaceable. Eddi started his presentation by providing information about the condition of the startup ecosystem in Indonesia.
Eddi assessed that the fintech (Financial Technology) industry is a lucrative market. Currently, Google, Facebook, and others are starting to enter the fintech industry. Banks that have been playing in the financial industry for a long time must be ready to adapt and not to be disrupted by these technology companies.
“We don’t compete, but we collaborate with them,” said Eddi. Startups are not a threat to banks but an opportunity for companies to collaborate. Mandiri Capital Indonesia is one of the units that opens the door for collaboration with startups through investment. From this collaboration, Bank Mandiri can embrace startups into business units within it, thereby opening up growth opportunities for both parties.
Building a startup requires a lot of money. One of the funding sources is investors. In this session, Eddi also shared investor perspectives in assessing a business idea. He explained that the idea must solve a problem, the product is unique compared to other similar products, and the most important thing is validation if there are people who want to buy the product.
“They don’t invest in good ideas, but the validated ones where someone wants to purchase the product,” Eddi emphasized.
From this class, students are expected to get an idea of how the bank’s adaptive actions respond to the technological developments that disrupt various components of lives, including finance.
