The force is strong in Solo

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Hello reader,

I’ve been living in Hanoi for a decade now, and I’m not sure if I can ever return to country life.

When I visit my parents in rural Northern Ireland, I get pretty unnerved by how quiet it gets at night compared to Hanoi. How am I supposed to fall asleep when I can’t hear a Honda Dream sputtering past?

Jokes aside, I miss the hustle and bustle of Vietnam’s capital when I’m back home. But if the cost of living in Hanoi were as high as it is in Northern Ireland, I may not find all the idiosyncrasies of life here so charming.

Similarly, tech firms may love being close to the action in Jakarta, but they likely hate the higher operational costs associated with being in such a major hub.

This partly explains why the much smaller city of Solo has attracted a lot of investment in recent years. However, politics may also have a role in this development.

Today we look at:

• Solo positioning itself as Indonesia’s next tech hotspot
• SingPost’s local CEO stepping down amid a scandal
• Other newsy highlights such as a European Commission starting an investigation into fashion major Shein and logistics company Shadowfax securing funding.

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Why tech firms are ridin’ to Solo

Image credit: Timmy Loen

A city with a population of just over half a million people and no high-rise buildings may not seem an obvious choice for a new tech hub – but all is not as it seems in Solo.

The Indonesian city has experienced an influx of major tech players in recent years, and it’s not just because of its political importance.

• Ulterior motives?: Gibran Rakabuming Raka – son of former president Joko Widodo – became the mayor of Solo in 2021. Since then, major players like Grab, Emtek, Bukalapak, Shopee, Garena, GoTo, and Tokopedia have forged stronger ties to the city via various methods. Some argue that these moves are a bid to curry favor with those in power.
• Grass may be greener: Experts believe the city has other advantages that make it an appealing investment destination for tech firms. These include proximity to some of the country’s top universities – which gives it an enviable talent pool – and lower operational costs than in other places like Jakarta.
• Out of favor: Speaking of Jakarta, experts notice that tech companies in Indonesia are becoming less dependent on the country’s capital. The high cost of living in the overcrowded city is one major factor that drives these firms to search for other places to set up their operations.

SingPost drama rumbles on

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