Winner of the WIT Indonesia Start-Up Pitch 2013, Faeez Fadhlillah, CEO & co-founder of Lagisatu, shares his thoughts on the Indonesian market and what life has been like since he won the competition.
When it comes to the travel industry, Indonesia does not seem to appear on the top targeted countries by multinational travel companies in markets such as the US, Europe, China, India and Japan.
Yet, international arrivals to Indonesia in 2011 reached 7.65 million, representing a 9.24% growth over 2010. It generated foreign exchange earnings of US$ 8.55 billion or an increase of 12.51% compared to the year 2010. (Report here)
As one-fifth of Indonesians above the age of 15 have access to Internet, online bookings for airline tickets and hotel rooms continue to grow in popularity.
According to the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, about half of the nation’s travelers make their reservation through websites. Interestingly, the number of Indonesian travelers reached 125 million people taking a total of 245 million trips.
About 50% of them made their [transportation and accommodation] bookings on the Internet. This represents a huge opportunity for travel start-ups to flourish in Indonesia especially on the online travel sector with top players, including GoIndonesia, Tiket.com, Traveloka, Valadoo, Nusatrip, and many more.
There is huge opportunity for new start-ups to bloom in a market where domestic travel made a significant growth of nearly 20% on a yearly basis. A very promising market indeed!
In fact, Indonesia, just like India and China, is blessed with amazing talent and affordable labour force which is always a catalyst for a vibrant start-up community to develop.
WIT under Siew Hoon and the team has always dedicated a huge part of their effort in promoting travel through empowering young start-ups.
Going into its second year, the WIT Indonesia Start-Up Pitch will see half a dozen entrepreneurs take to the stage to present their ideas to a panel of judges.
Being last year’s winner, I’ve been given the honour of “mentoring” some of the finalists and I must say that their enthusiasm, energy and spirit of entrepreneurship is truly remarkable.
The finalists will get to present their ideas during WIT Indonesia and receive live feedback and mentorship of an esteemed panel of judges, comprising top leaders, decision makers and investors in the travel industry.
We consider winning the WIT competition last year as one of our most valued achievements in our careers.
Through constructive dialogue with the panel of judges, we were able to further define our USP and move forward in our endeavour of creating with MuslimStars, a listing of hotel amenities and services for Muslim travellers.
I can safely say that WIT gave us the confidence to move forward with our endeavour and ultimately many of our successes later on were built on the experiences during and after the pitching session of WIT Indonesia.
Additionally, one of the greatest benefits for Lagisatu.com as a local start-up was the opportunity of developing relationships with travel industry people from around the globe, which we would surely have never been able to meet in such a constellation.
We were able to be inspired by founders, company leaders and specialists of many different fields. It is to thank WIT and Siew Hoon for their endless efforts in promoting local travel start-ups and supporting them in succeeding in the long run.
To the finalists, I wish you all the very best in your endeavour. There can only be one winner but to the rest, don’t give up, take this opportunity to elaborate and redefine your idea. It will be a rewarding experience.
