VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia is still very low when compared to countries in Southeast Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

"According to the 2018 Entrepreneurship Global Index, the number of Indonesian entrepreneurs is still very small if we compare it to neighboring countries such as Malaysia (6 percent), Thailand (5 percent) and Singapore (7 percent)," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin when opening the Meeting Cross-Sector Strategic Coordination of Online Youth Service Delivery from Jakarta, Tuesday.

This condition becomes a reference that economic progress in Indonesia is still lagging behind Southeast Asia countries.

According to Ma'ruf, the ratio of the number of entrepreneurs reflects the progress of a country's economy.

"Whereas entrepreneurship is one of the keys to determining the success of economic development. It has become a rule-of-thumb that the ratio of the number of entrepreneurs in a country reflects its economic progress," added Vice President Ma'ruf Amin.

Entrepreneurship is a business activity carried out by business actors independently. This means, continued Ma'ruf, business actors determine the type of product, method of production, marketing, capital, including business risks.

Therefore, the Vice President encourages awareness and knowledge about entrepreneurship that needs to be grown from an early age so that more and more young entrepreneurs can encourage economic growth in Indonesia.

"I strongly agree that we need to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. Through a higher entrepreneurial spirit, it is hoped that more and more new entrepreneurs will open up new jobs," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin.

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin hopes that the coordination meeting held by the Ministry of Youth and Sports can produce concrete efforts to create young entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

"One of the things to remember is that being an entrepreneur means starting from something small. Entrepreneurs will not think that their business will become big in an instant. This is the art of entrepreneurship, you must be brave to start from a small business and even a micro-business," said the Vice President. (Antaranews)