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Mr Happy Trenggono

The company was officially established in 2002, but all the people involved had extensive experience prior to the company being founded. We served as a contractor in the palm oil sector for large companies such as Astra Agro Lestari, Gudang Garam Group and Sinar Mas. This was our entry point into the palm oil industry.

One of the greatest challenges faced in the sector is to solve the community problem around where the plantations are operated. In Indonesia, one area and another have very different characteristics. For example, the people in West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan have a very different character and approach. Our strength is in being able to deal with this, some of the major players cannot deal with this effectively so as a contractor we are able to solve the problems and move the project forward. We are able to solve issues of compatibility with the community as well as with the local government. Many foreign companies hesitate to invest in Indonesia because of these two issues I mentioned and the need to find a good local partner to solve these problems so this is where we can offer expertise.

Today, we work with several foreign investors from Malaysia, UK and USA for example. Our role here is to ensure that all of their projects are a success.

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Mr Happy Trenggono

Indonesia is undergoing a transformation process; we introduced a locally autonomous system through decentralisation which is still at an early stage. The decentralised system has created many local leaders. Some of them are very capable, but some of them have no experience in investment. Sometimes a very big company does not have the capability to adapt to that situation. Sometimes we also have to deal with district leaders (bupati) who make getting the permit and license very difficult. The key to invest in Indonesia is flexibility; we have expertise in this but it is still a challenge.

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Mr Happy Trenggono

The CAFTA has been difficult for the country to adapt to. Frankly speaking, now Indonesia is not in an ideal situation, because our production capacity is not capable to compete. If you talk about manufacturing and consumer product, Indonesia is still the consumer and not the producer. For Indonesia as a country, we have to turn it into an opportunity. China’s advantage is in being able to produce cheap products; they can keep prices low and have expertise on issues such as infrastructure. For Indonesia our approach must therefore be different, we must thing like entrepreneurs. For example in coffee, we do not produce cheap coffee but it is high quality and China is not able to produce it. This is where we have something to offer to compete and find opportunities in the Chinese market.

Our coffee is sold not as a commodity but with value added, it is called ‘tasty coffee’ and contains ginger for health and strength. We sell this product in China. I have even been surprised by how popular it is and how frequently I have people from China contacting me who want to do business.

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Mr Happy Trenggono

In the future, United Balimuda will be involved in the downstream palm oil industry. Now, we are only engaged in CPO but from it we can produce a lot of products such as cosmetics, cooking oil, etc. and this is the area I would like to explore with foreign partners.

In terms of investors, we are in discussion with companies in Saudi Arabia and the United States.