General Electric Eyes Establishment of a Regional Hub in Indonesia
US multinational conglomerate General Electric (GE) is exploring possibilities to establish a regional business hub in Indonesia due to the promising perspectives of both Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. Currently, Indonesia is the largest market for GE in Southeast Asia, accounting for roughly 30 percent of the company's revenue in this region (but Indonesia's regional peers are developing rapidly as well). However, GE Indonesia CEO Handry Satriago said that human resources form a problem.
Satriago said in an interview with the Jakarta Post that there is a lack of potential future leaders in Indonesia. Each year, GE Indonesia trains fresh graduates and young professionals to become future leaders of the company. However, most leaders still originate from Singapore.
In Indonesia, GE’s revenue has more than tripled between 2008 and 2013, from USD $300 million to more than USD $1 billion, due to a surge in the company's infrastructure business (including aviation, health equipment, power generation and oil & gas). Satriago informed that the aviation sector is one of the strongest contributors to GE's business, recording USD $1 billion in revenue on the back of Indonesia’s strong demand for new aircrafts and maintenance services. Most of the new aircrafts that are ordered by local Indonesian companies are built by Boeing, which uses GE engines. The production of locomotives are also becoming increasingly important for the company's revenue. In the last three years, GE Indonesia received approximately 150 orders for locomotives.
The company's consumer products business segment is also rising. The GE Indonesia factory in Yogyakarta manufacturers 50 million light bulbs per year (and exports them to the USA and Europe).
GE Indonesia will also invest (approximately USD $1.4 billion) in power technology in Indonesia as a quarter of the Indonesian population (numbering almost 250 million people) still lacks access or have limited access to the country's electricity grid.