Events 2019
03/12/19 - Dutch Business Breakfast | Renewable Energy and its challenges in Indonesia | ENGIE
On 3 December, we hosted a business breakfast with Nicolas van den Abeele – Head of Business Development – Renewable Energy and Gas at ENGIE. Nicolas shared his view on the current Renewable Energy environment as well as the current challenges in Indonesia. Against the backdrop of Indonesia’s commitment to “Become part of the solution’, through which Indonesia committed to unconditionally reduce its emissions by almost a third (29 percent) against 2030 business-as-usual (BAU) scenario or more (41 percent), provided that international assistance is available” (President Joko Widodo during his speech at COP 21 in Paris last December 2015.) while Vietnam has recently opened the onshore and offshore wind market. China and India are heavily investing in renewable energy. We discussed topics like:
· Where is Indonesia currently on this journey?
· What are the opportunities in Indonesia for RE?
· What are the challenges?
· What are the opportunities for foreign companies?
· How can RE improve the air quality in Jakarta?
We thank Nicolas for taking the time to enlighten us on this topic and wish him all the best with progression renewables in Indonesia.
15/11/19 - Networking Breakfast | World Entrepreneurs’ Day
DBN organized a DBN ‘Ondernemers Ontbijt’. All DBN-entrepreneur-members were invited and all were asked to bring along a non-DBN-member entrepreneur (Networking & bringing business people together is our mission after all). Put 28 entrepreneurs in a room and it will be lively for sure. We all had a great early morning. Thanks also to Le Quartier Jakarta who served an almost Dutch Breakfast consisting of bread, cheese, jams and delicious coffee and tea.
05/11/19 - Dutch Business Breakfast | Moving Indonesia’s Capital: Brilliant or Bizarre?
The first question asked by Joris van Etten, Senior Urban Development Specialist at ADB, during this DBB session:
Is the move of the capital to the island of Kalimantan brilliant or bizarre?
Although the opinion of the vast majority of those present was ‘bizarre’, Joris and Andy, Secretary General of the Indonesian Association of Urban and Regional Planners, tried to bring us along the thought process of the Indonesian government. Andy, as a native from Kalimantan, gave us relevant insights on local conditions and the challenges these pose to planning and constructing the new capital. And because of his work for the Indonesian Association of Urban and Regional Planners, Andy was able to inform us about the planning process, the regulatory requirements, the timelines and the expected institutional set-up to facilitate the move.
It is not yet clear whether the capital will actually be relocated, this will probably require some patience, but Andy promised us he will be back in two years to update the members of DBN on the progress of this mega project.
We would like to thank Joris and Andy for their insightful presentation.
30/10/19 - Networking Borrel | Disrupting the Real Estate Sector | Lamudi & GoWork
The 3rd annual DBN Networking Borrel was preceded by two presentations of companies quickly changing the real estate landscape in Indonesia. Mart Polman, Managing Director at Lamudi and Anne Hermans, VP People and Operations at Lamudi informed the audience how they build their fast-growing business, what lessons they learned during their journey and how they envision the future of their company in Indonesia.
After the insightful presentation of Lamudi, Sylvia Allan VP of Sales at GoWork discussed GoWork’s vision on the future of coworking in Indonesia. A topic that was certainly relevant considering the recent turmoil surrounding their big American competitor.
We would like to thank Mart, Anne and Sylvia for their time and effort during this great networking borrel.
07/10/19 - Visit Dutch Prime Minister to Indonesia
On Monday October 7 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited Indonesia. Before Prime Minister Rutte was welcomed by President Joko Widodo he had breakfast with a selected group of Directors managing Dutch businesses in Indonesia. Gustaaf, Chairman of DBN, gave a short update on the current business climate in Indonesia after which PM Ritte took over speaking with each and everyone at the table.
In the evening a “Connection Dinner” was organized, in combination with 100 Years KLM festivities. A mix of DBN members, Dutch Alumni and KLM business relations enjoyed the food and presence of the Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
10/09/19 - Dutch Business Breakfast | Rishabh Gupta | Oyo Rooms
On 10 September Rishabh Gupta, Country Head Indonesia of Oyo Rooms gave a very insightful presentation about the secrets to Blitz scaling at the World’s Fastest Growing Hotel Chain.
A full room, lots of interaction and good questions from the audience made for a very successful and interesting breakfast session.
We would like to thank Rishabh for his time and interesting insights.
05/09/19 - DBN Sponsor Breakfast | Meet the new Dutch Ambassador | Lambert Grijns
On September 5 DBN hosted a special event for all DBN Sponsors. Over breakfast all sponsors had the opportunity to meet with the brand new Dutch Ambassador: Lambert Grijns, and the new Deputy Head of Mission: Ardi Stoios-Braken. We had three tables and the Ambassador, the deputy Ambassador and Mr Hans de Brabander, Head of the Economic Department of the Embassy, would rotate every 20 minutes, so every table had a change to speak & share on Indonesia. Proud to say that all DBN sponsors were present and all appreciated the sponsor-only event and the fact that they could meet the Ambassador during his first week in Jakarta.
We would like to thank the Dutch Ambassador and the Deputy Head of Mission for their time and presence and all the DBN Sponsors for their support throughout the year.
08/08/19 - Water Sector Networking Gathering
As part of the special DBN “Waterweek” , DBN organized a networking gathering at the end of a day full of “Water gatherings” at the Embassy. Representatives from water engineering firms, NGO’s, the Embassy and the Dutch Government enjoyed informal discussions and many were able to expand and reinforce their network. A good closing of the DBN Waterweek and for sure there will be more water events in the coming year!
06/08/19 - Dutch Business Breakfast | Koos Wieriks
Tuesday 6 August, Koos Wieriks spoke on the incredible sinking rate of Jakarta (in some places more than 4 meters in the last 30 years!) and the assistance the Dutch government is providing to the Indonesian government to build solutions.
“The Giant Seawall” project, or the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) Masterplan, foresees to build a catching basin in the Bay of Jakarta. While currently some of the inner coastal dams are being built already, the design and development of the outer dam is still in progress, an integrated planning process between different levels of Indonesian governments.
As a nation of Water engineers and promotors of “The Poldermodel” (extensive consultation with all stakeholders), the audience had quite some difficult questions and Koos explained as much as he could, in his role as special advisor to the Indonesian Government.
We would like to thank Koos for his time and interesting presentation.
09/07/19 - Dutch Business Breakfast | Rabobank
On Tuesday the 9th of July, DBN organized a breakfast session with Max Blom, Director Risk Management Rabobank Indonesia and Stefan Ekkels, International Desk Manager Rabobank Indonesia. Insights were given by Stefan on the Rabobank business worldwide, its history and business in Indonesia and the main reasons of the closure of Rabobank in Indonesia.
Closing a bank obviously has implications on employees & clients, involves dealing with the local authorities and other stakeholders. Max explained to the audience how Rabobank deals with that situation here in Indonesia.
We would like to thank both Max and Stefan for their time and great presentation.
26/06/2019 - DBN Haring Party
On June 26th, the DBN board organized the first ever DBN Haring Party together with EKONID, the German Chamber, & DanCham, the Danish Chamber.
Why? Because we all eat haring and all have our very own haring traditions, either raw (salted) or rolmops (pickeld) with jenever or aquavit 🙂
Over 120 people joined us to network and enjoy the freshly flown in 150 Hollandse Nieuwe.
Many DBN members said the Haring Partij was the highlight of the year. Unfortunately due to Covid-19 the Haring Partij 2020 could not be held but we do look forward to our next Haring Partij in June 2021.
07/05/19 - Dutch Business Breakfast | How to raise money for startups?
Rolf Monteiro, Founder and CEO of BeliMobilGue.co.id and Edwina Yeo, Co-Founder and Partner of Tanglin Venture Partners gave the members of DBN very interesting insights into the world of capital around start-ups. By having both the start-up and the capital provider on stage, the audience was given a perspective on raising/investing money from both sides of the table.
02/04/19 - Panel discussion | How will the elections impact your business?
DBN organized a panel discussion led by Matthijs Wiggers about the various agenda’s of the two presidential candidates and the impact that might have on business in Indonesia. A big thank you to our panel members:
1) Michel Maas (NOS & Volkskrant)
2) Annemarie Kas (NRC)
3) Jack Hewson (The Economist Intelligence Unit)
4) Yose Rizal (www.politicawave.com)
The discussion continued after the event on the terras in front of the Erasmus Huis library.
23/03/19 - Holland Career Fair, Connecting International Minds
On Saturday 23rd of March 2019 Nuffic Neso Indonesia and the Dutch Business Network (DBN) initiated and organized, with the support of the Dutch Embassy, the first ever Holland Career Fair | Connecting International Minds.
Representatives from 15 (international) companies and more than 100 Holland Alumni gathered together to build up their network. Indonesia counts 5,916 registered Holland Alumni: local talent who have studied or were engaged in academic research in The Netherlands.
05/03/19 - Dutch Business Breakfast | How Lion Super Indo is changing the landscape of retail
Johan Boeijenga, CEO of Super Indo Indonesia (part of Ahold Delhaize) and Wouter Poort, Operations Director at Super Indo, spoke on how retail is rapidly changing and the challenges Super Indo is facing in this market. Some aspect he spoke about is the long term planning needed for retail, supply chain challenges in keeping things ‘fresh’ and their plans for the future in Indonesia.
Johan’s passion for retail and knowledge made it a very inspiring morning.
28/02/2019 - Company visit | to AQUA Danone
Early morning a group of 30 DBN members drove to Ciherang to visit the Aqua plant. We were welcomed by David Bidau, Engineering & Technovation Director and Matthias Sterkens, Procurement Director.
We received a full tour of the plant and discussed at length Aqua’s successful efforts to become more and more sustainable by reducing and recycling plastic, the usage of solar energy and rainwater and much more. To inspire & motivate us all to also implement (more) sustainable solutions in our business there was a small exhibition showcasing sustainable solutions.
12/02/19 - Dutch Business Breakfast | Insights into the Dairy Business and the position of Frisian Flag
On the 12th of February 2019, Maurits Klavert, President Director at PT. Frisian Flag Indonesia, a DBN Sponsor, shared the ins and outs of the dairy business in Indonesia.
Discussing the growth of the dairy business, the (growing) competition, but also challenges like finding available land to build (sustainable) farms on.
31/01/19 - Company Visit | to Allianz new Digital Innovation Centre
At the end of the day, on January 31, we were welcomed by Joos Louwerier (CEO of Allianz Insurance in Jakarta) and his team to experience the new Allianz Digital innovation Centre. The visit kick started with an inspiring talk on Allianz growth in Indonesia, new services that are being developed and they shared valuable experience on their shift towards agile working. The company visit ended with a lively discussion followed by drinks & food.
28/01/19 - DBN | Surabaya networking event
Monday 28th January the Dutch Honorary Consul in Surabaya, Ibu Lily organized a meet & greet with East Java elected Vice Governor Mr. Emil E. Dardak. Due to Mr. Emil’s economic and business background it is to be expected that he will take a leading role in the economic development of East Java in the next 5 years.
For DBN it was a good opportunity to meet & greet with the Dutch Business Community in Surabaya. DBN Chairman Gustaaf attended this special event on behalf of the DBN board.
