Indopreneur USA: A Start-up Competition For Indonesians in the US. Low, High Tech All Welcome

Update: Included MEKAR’s comment on its network of investors, below.

Nice mug. Credit: cafepress.com

You heard that right. Indopreneur USA, organized by MEKAR Entrepreneur Network and the Indonesian Embassy in US, is a start-up business plan competition for Indonesians residing in the U.S. Entrepreneurs who have great ideas can submit their business plan— whether low- or high-tech ideas — to Indopreneur USA by October 9, 2011.

MEKAR will pick ten successful applicants who will head over to Indonesia for a series of competitions and seminars. The winners, (MEKAR didn’t state exactly how many out of the ten), will gain access to local mentors and investors to turn their visions into reality.

For those who are curious about the precise definition of low/high tech in this competition, Charles Nagy, CEO of MEKAR Entrepreneur Network, elaborates more on this point via email:

The theme of high-tech is any business idea that is innovative and leverages newly developed or created technologies and may be patentable. In other words, the main product/service is around the technology itself. Low-tech is any idea using existing technologies to create a product or service, typically “me too” products or services. Any brick and mortar with less/no technology will be put into this low-tech category.

He could be one of the participants. Credits: freebiefarmer

It’s interesting because the criteria looks fascinatingly precise: only for Indonesians in the U.S. (Unfortunately that filters away Indonesians who can’t communicate in English). But the plan is pretty flexible though. Only the registered applicant needs to be Indonesian. The rest of the team can be American or any other nationality.

It’s a neat initiative, as Indonesia looks to expand her economy through entrepreneurship in a manner very similar to the U.S model. The U.S Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said quite recently at the last Regional Entrepreneur Summit (RES) in Bali that entrepreneurship is very much the foundation of the U.S economy and singled out Silicon Valley as an example.

“Talent is universal, opportunity is not,” said Clinton.

And Indopreneur USA is certainly providing opportunities for talented Indonesians residing in the U.S to have a shot at creating their own empire. The Indonesian Ambassador to the US, Dino Patti Djalal, echoed: