Ex-Gojek CEO’s appointment as education minister could be good for Southeast Asia

Nadiem Makarim’s resignation as CEO of Gojek to take up a position in the Indonesian cabinet is no doubt the talk of the town.

What surprised many was his appointment as the minister of education and culture – a post that seemingly has nothing to do with his Gojek role.

Let’s put the cynicism aside and look at the big picture. It’s becoming clear that if – and it’s a big if – Makarim succeeds in his new role, he could provide a boost for the entire Southeast Asian tech industry.

Nadiem Makarim / Photo credit: World Economic Forum / Sikarin Thanachaiary

Weeks ago, talent was identified as a persistent problem for the region’s internet economy.

“The lack of readily available talent remains an unresolved challenge for the ecosystem,” observes the e-Conomy SEA 2019 report, which was produced by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company.

Tech companies are facing a talent crunch. As the number of tech jobs grow, local talent has struggled to fill them, which is why many of Southeast Asia’s unicorns have set up engineering centers abroad.

The private sector is attempting to address this issue. Apart from in-house training by employers, companies like General Assembly, Revou, Glints, and Hactiv8 run months-long bootcamps to prepare fresh graduates and mid-career professionals for jobs in the tech world.

While these solutions are good, they only target part of the problem. According to some Indonesians I spoke to, the country’s education system – the largest in Southeast Asia, with over 230,000 schools – needs a serious upgrade.

“[Makarim] knows how painful it is to onboard fresh graduates – only very, very few of them are ready for the workplace. They’re mostly sourced from very few universities, and all companies are fighting for the same pool. There are very limited partnerships between universities and the industry, and very few professors are practitioners,” says a senior executive at a large regional ecommerce company.

Time bomb

In other words, if Indonesia’s education system can be improved, tech companies across Southeast Asia – and not just Indonesia – would have access to a wider talent pool that’s not only more qualified but also more diverse in terms of income level.

“Indonesia has been mentioned over and over again as having a young and productive population, especially when compared to an aging Korea and Japan. But we’re actually sitting on a time bomb of having tons of young, uneducated or under-educated, and thus unproductive people,” observes an Indonesian startup founder.

Makarim no doubt has his work cut out for him. While progress has been made to boost education budgets and literacy rates, Indonesian students are below average in science, mathematics, and reading, based on tests from the Programme for International Student Assessment.

“While education spending is now at a level similar to other lower-middle-income countries, it is still less than comparable neighboring countries” like Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand, notes Australian think tank Lowy Institute.