Business Confidence, Investment, and Indonesia’s Path to Prosperity

Business confidence takes tangible form in the willingness to commit capital, build factories, develop technology, and create jobs. Behind every investment decision lies an assessment of policy certainty, market potential, and a country’s future. Investment is therefore an important measure of confidence in Indonesia—and a responsibility to ensure that growth delivers benefits across society.

In his report at Hambalang on October 31, 2026, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Chairman Anindya Bakrie stated that domestic investment had reached nearly Rp2,000 trillion during President Prabowo Subianto’s first two years in office, accounting for more than half of total national investment. These reported figures underline the substantial contribution of Indonesian businesses to development and economic resilience. They represent commitments involving risk, responsibility, and a long-term perspective. Source: Presidential Secretariat.⁠

For me, the central message is that Indonesian entrepreneurs believe in their own country’s future. That confidence is a development asset we must preserve. The government must respond with consistent policies, dependable public services, and practical solutions to business constraints. Businesses, in turn, must translate their confidence into productivity, innovation, and wider economic opportunity.

The Kadin 2026 National Leadership Meeting materials informing this article list 39 domestic and foreign investment projects as inaugurated or beginning operations between October 2024 and October 2026. They span energy, mineral processing, automotive manufacturing, batteries, digital infrastructure, connectivity, petrochemicals, medical equipment, and recycling. Together, they illustrate the breadth of Indonesia’s efforts to expand its productive capacity. Each project must nevertheless be understood according to its development stage: inauguration or the start of operations does not necessarily mean that full production capacity has been reached.

Investment also unfolds over many years. A facility inaugurated today may have undergone planning, financing, permitting, and construction under earlier administrations. Achievements during President Prabowo’s first two years should therefore be appreciated as evidence of the importance of development continuity, project completion, and bringing investments to the point where they generate economic benefits. That continuity gives investors a reason to maintain their commitments.

The next challenge is to strengthen the connections among these investments. Power plants, industrial estates, vehicle factories, battery facilities, data centres, and transport networks must support one another. Reliable energy helps industry produce competitively. Better connectivity expands market access. Digital infrastructure improves efficiency and creates opportunities for innovation. When these connections are deliberately developed, investment can strengthen the capabilities of the national economy as a whole.

In downstream industrial development, for example, success must increasingly be measured by the capabilities Indonesia acquires. We need skilled technicians, component suppliers, engineering services, applied research, and domestic companies capable of meeting global standards. Every major investment should create opportunities to develop those capabilities. This would allow Indonesia to retain more value while giving its businesses a stronger position in production networks.

The same principle applies to electric vehicles, batteries, and digital infrastructure. We must ensure that emerging industries create opportunities for Indonesian engineers, software developers, component manufacturers, and service providers. Partnerships with foreign investors can expand access to technology and markets when supported by a skilled workforce and a clear national industrial development agenda.

This is where a people-centred economy must take practical shape. Large investments should establish meaningful commercial relationships with micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and regional businesses. Local firms need access to procurement information, quality improvement support, financing, and transparent supplier selection. Timely payment is equally essential: it can determine whether a partnership helps a small business grow or places additional pressure on its cash flow.

For Gerakan Nasional UMKM Bangkit, the national movement to strengthen Indonesian MSMEs, this agenda is particularly relevant. Small businesses move up the value chain when they secure lasting customer relationships, improve product quality, and expand on a sound commercial footing. Partnerships with industry must therefore be structured as mutually beneficial business relationships. Training becomes more valuable when it is connected to buyer requirements and concrete contract opportunities.

Kadin has a strategic role in bringing these needs together. Its regional networks can map local suppliers’ capabilities, while large companies identify their procurement requirements, standards, and expected volumes. Government can help address constraints in certification, training, and financing. The National Leadership Meeting will deliver greater value when its commitments lead to measurable outcomes: partnerships established, suppliers qualified, and regional businesses gaining access to new markets.

Investor confidence must also be sustained through better governance. Predictable permitting timelines, alignment between national and regional policies, and clarity in implementation materially influence business decisions. Digital government transformation should reduce repetitive documentation, make application status transparent, and accelerate the resolution of problems. Businesses need processes they can track and decisions for which public institutions can be held accountable.

At the same time, quality investment requires attention to workplace safety, environmental protection, and surrounding communities. Responsible management of these impacts supports operational continuity and public trust. A project’s success becomes more durable when communities experience its benefits through decent employment, improved skills, and growing local economic activity.

I see this investment momentum as an opportunity to bring together two ambitions: a people-centred economy and an Indonesia that competes globally. Regional entrepreneurs must have room to grow, MSMEs must have a practical path to expand, and national companies must develop the capabilities to succeed internationally. All three can advance within a connected business ecosystem when policies and partnerships consistently support these goals.

The business community has expressed its confidence through capital commitments. Our task is to translate that confidence into productive capacity, quality employment, and more broadly shared prosperity. Ultimately, investment’s greatest significance will be found in people’s lives: a young person securing a job, a small business gaining a market, and a family building a better future. That is where confidence in Indonesia delivers its most meaningful return.