In 2023, Indonesia will remain one of the most tempting countries in Southeast Asia, for expatriates and foreigners to invest in.
The World Bank predicts that Indonesia will maintain its economic growth, with MSMEs as one of the main pillars.
Expats & foreigners can now easily channel their investment, while also play a hand in helping MSMEs to develop even further, through KoinWorks’ KoinP2P and KoinRobo.
. . .
Many parts of the world have been caught off guard by the pandemic since its beginning two years ago. Disturbances in the economy & supply chain forcing many businesses, major corporations and startups alike, to harshly restructure and rethink their strategy.
Indonesia has been affected by this as well.
However, as one of “Asia’s big next opportunities”, Indonesia managed to bounce back, and has been maintaining its economic growth since 2021.
The World Bank also predicts that Indonesia will maintain its growth on average 4.9% between 2023-2025, even with expected global recession next year.
So, how come Indonesia became quite tough on facing business and economic challenges up until now?
First, its resources.
The largest archipelagic country in Southeast Asia has abundant natural resources; from oil & gas, valuable minerals, and agricultural products.
Indonesia is also already in a demographic bonus period, which means the productive age population outweighs the non-productive age population– giving the country an adequate manpower, which is expected to reach 195 million people by 2040.
Second, its growing MSMEs (micro, small, & medium enterprises) and financial technology sector.
Not to be taken lightly, one of the reasons why Indonesia’s economy rebounded almost immediately these last 2 years was because of MSMEs’ existence– it’s smaller, easier to maneuver during crises, while also absorbing up to 97% of the domestic workforce.
However, the MSMEs’ development in the country is not without challenges. One of the main obstacles that many business owners have to deal with is about funding.
And that’s where the financial technology sector, which is also another rising star in Indonesia’s economic growth, comes into play. P2P lending, in particular.
Daftar Isi
What is P2P Lending?
While MSMEs contribute to a little over 60% Indonesia total GDP, only 12% of those 64 million businesses have access to funding.
This is because most of them don’t have credit history and any other requirements that they need to request loans from conventional banks.
At this rate, both the Indonesian government and MSMEs are apparently in need of a new model and source of funding.
Financial technology (FinTech) is here to help tackle that challenge. It offers new and various methods of financing, and one of them is P2P Lending (peer-to-peer lending).
As it’s aptly named, P2P Lending is a mechanism of lending money to individuals/businesses through an online platform or services. The online platform will match the lender with the borrower, and apply the suitable interest rates based on the credit-worthy level of the borrower.
The borrower will have the fund in much shorter time and with less paperwork, and the lender will get their investment back with interest.
In Indonesia, the return rate is usually higher than depositing money in conventional banks or any other investment models on average (for example, KoinWorks offers a return rate up to 18% p.a.)
KoinP2P and KoinRobo
KoinP2P from KoinWorks provides a P2P lending service that matches a lender with a “productive” borrower.
As individuals or consumptive borrowers can also submit their applications to a P2P lending platform elsewhere, KoinWorks chooses to focus their services to productive ones– in this case, the existing MSMEs.
This is to minimize the risk of failed repayment from lenders. However, there are still risks of failed and delayed repayment, even with a running business as the borrower.
For a more risk-averse lender, KoinRobo by KoinWorks provides a P2P lending service that automate and diversify the investment to several businesses, to minimize credit default risks and optimize the return rate for up to 13% p.a.
|
Funding Products |
KoinP2P |
KoinRobo |
| Minimum funding | Start from Rp100.000,00 | Start from Rp100.000,00 |
| Period | Star from 1 month | Start from 1 month |
| Interest rate | Up to 18% p.a. | Up to 13% p.a. |
| Risk level | Medium to High | Low |
| Funding type | Manually, based on user preferences | Automatic Diversification |
On KoinP2P, the borrowers (MSMEs) are graded based on their credit-worthy level; with Grade-S and Grade-A as the top performing ones, and followed by Grade-B, Grade-C, Grade-D, and lastly Grade-E as the lowest one.
Here, lenders may manually choose which borrower and business they want to invest in.
This product is suitable for moderate and high risk profile investors, because they need to do manual analysis using a Fact Sheet that is provided on the apps.
KoinRobo on the other hand has a different approach. On this feature, lenders may choose between several types of funding (i.e. Best Performing, Robo Prime, and Robo Pro), and then KoinWorks will automatically choose and diversify their investment to top performing borrowers.
This product is less risky than KoinP2P and due to its characteristic, this product becomes the most favorite product at KoinWorks.
Additionally, KoinP2P and KoinRobo provide a Provision Fund to minimize lenders’ losses due to failed repayment or credit default from borrowers.
Speaking of borrowers, how does KoinWorks actually assess their credit-worthy level?
Does it accept all kinds of businesses, and then just assign grades on them later?
Assessing Borrowers
In order to be eligible for funding, borrowers must register their business first to KoinBisnis from KoinWorks.
After they’re registered and start applying for loans, KoinWorks assesses their profiles and businesses, and also apply due diligence on them, conducted by KoinWorks’ very own Risk & Fraud division.
Similar to what conventional banks do, the Risk & Fraud division collects and analyzes all relevant information about the borrowers; which includes their character profile, business capacity & capital, and also market condition of each business they’re in.
Once they’re verified and good to go, their applications will show up on KoinP2P’s Marketplace– where lenders may choose which borrower and business they want to invest in.
The same process also applies to KoinRobo, however the borrowers & businesses are automatically diversified; sourced from other KoinWorks low-risk loan products (i.e. KoinInvoice and KoinGaji).
How About Legality?
Well, P2P lending activities in Indonesia is already regulated by the Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan– OJK), specifically under OJK Regulation No.10/POJK.05/2022 (formerly No.77 /POJK.01/2016) about “IT-based Co-funding Services”
KoinWorks itself is a registered FinTech under OJK (No.S-87/MS.72/2020), registered as one of Indonesia’s Electronic System Provider (No.00257/DJAI.PSE/02/2020), and also a member of Indonesia FinTech Association (0322/REG/AFT/SU).
Furthermore, KoinWorks is also being backed by Mandiri Capital Indonesia, Gunung Sewu Group, Convergence Ventures, Telkom, and East Ventures.
Can I be a Lender?
The short answer is yes, anyone can be a lender.
If you want to start investing in the growing sector of Indonesia’s MSMEs, or if you simply have idle money sitting somewhere and you would like to grow your wealth, then P2P lending is one of the most suitable ways to go.
If you’re a foreigner, you can also apply to be a lender for KoinWorks, it only needs your passport to register. Once your paperwork is ready, you can start your KoinWorks registration process right away.
Keep in mind that the tax rate for foreigners with a residential tax holder is 10%, while a 20% tax rate will be applied for non-residential tax holders.
Conclusion
MSMEs are currently the backbone of Indonesia’s economic growth; it’s big, developing steadily along with digitalization and financial technology, and it provides substantial investment opportunities for both business owners and investors alike.
As one of the most suitable investment tools for both beginners and experienced investors, P2P lending is also providing major help to various MSMEs’ challenges.
Choosing P2P lending as one of your investment channels is not only benefitting you as lenders and investors, but also improving MSMEs’ development– providing them with both digital and financial inclusion they need.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss other P2P lending options for investment or funding, KoinWorks are more than happy to help you make the right decision. Please reach out to our Lead Financial Consultant (Chintya Virqi Prayetno) by email or WhatsApp.
