The Rising of Ecopreneurship in Indonesia

In commemorating Earth Day 2022, RDI Outreach Officer, Martha, attended the talk show “Bukber for Sustainable Future: The Rising of Ecopreneurship in Indonesia” held on 22 April 2022 by GK-Plug & Play Indonesia, Ecoxyztem, and CoHive. This event was aimed to connect Ecopreneurs and Green Startups with all relevant stakeholders as we join the “Invest Our Planet'' initiative. It also became a networking session between the guests and speakers to get connected in order for possible collaborations in the ecopreneur field.

There were 4 speakers on this talk show, namely Silverius Oscar Unggul (Vice-Chairman for Environment and Forestry - KADIN); Ketut Saguna (Co-Leader Task Force Management & Governance - V20 2022); Gita Syahrani (Head of Secretariat - Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari); M. Junerosano (Founder - Greeneration Group) and was moderated by Gracia Paramitha (Co-Chair Y20 & Co-Founder of Indonesian Youth Diplomacy). It discussed several topics under the ecopreneurship in Indonesia, such as the interpretation of “invest in our planet” which was the Earth Day 2022 theme -  from each speaker’s perspective, challenges and potentials for the future of ecopreneurship in Indonesia, and the strategies for ecopreneur to be maintained and developed, and more.

In the past, sustainability was seen as only profit and loss, but now it is like a dream come true, where the situation is much different and sponsors and investments enter more quickly. So for the future, there are big hopes that it will be even better for funding in the field of sustainability. Currently, the speed of environmental damage is not comparable to the solution. Problems related to the environment are no longer discussed by the parties concerned, even the Ministry of Finance has discussed this. This means that all aspects of life are related to this environmental aspect, even today's investors when want to invest in companies that also consider Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). The statement "invest in our planet" became a turning point for the importance of using the earth parameter, not just "pockets" or the economy (the emergence of a green economy, blue economy). And this is a new business opportunity for both new players and those who have been in the business for a long time.

Regarding the issue of investing in our future, from a government and governance perspective, it is often forgotten. The important thing is how to harmonize the development model holistically between economic, social, and environmental. Then, how important is it to build a narrative that can make those who previously disagreed agree. The important investment is listening, according to what is needed by certain parties. For example, the government targets the regions to make quality investments, so look for what the local community or community needs. Is it environmentally friendly, or socially friendly, and not just climate-friendly.

Other than that, the role and individual awareness need to exist who care and are connected between human beings and the natural environment. It is also important to make an "attention investment", that is, choose what focus we want to achieve and pay attention to because this value can change with the development of the surrounding situation. Align what our values ​​are, and are applied to the environment. our daily actions.

It came down to how can funding that helps facilitate ecopreneurs so that they are not one-off, or in other words, can continue to survive? Are there certain strategies for ecopreneurs or eco start-ups? In the past, it was a struggle to do business in the environmental field, because only a few wanted to work in this field, and funding was difficult. But it can survive because of the important role of innovative financing, the importance of how to get multiple revenues (dissecting what can be monetized, making sense of the emergence of the term blended financing in this day and age), understanding what the actual problem in the field, then deciding which parties who actually need and utilize it.

In the end, ecopreneurship needs comprehensive planning which includes spatial planning for each jurisdiction, development plans; and investment. Then the planning can be reduced to programs and budgets, and continued with finding a shared narrative that is a common solution and goal, for example in the form of modeling. Most importantly, almost all parties need progressive success story-based policy-making to motivate them. Therefore, it is safe to say that ecopreneurship is a multidimensional problem that needs deeper understanding, analysis, and collaborative work among different parties since it builds our nation.