What we can learn from Indonesia

An Indonesian I met on the street asked me curiously where I came from. "Kenya!" I answered proudly. "Is that Africa?" he asked. "Yes," I said with a grin hoping he had figured out where Kenya was on the map. Then he asked rather sheepishly: "Is Kenya in Mogadishu," my heart sunk. Mogadishu seems better known than Nairobi at least by my newly found acquaintance. With two other Kenyans, we visited Indonesia's capital last week to learn what drives the economy of one of East Asia Pacific's economic powerhouses.

Indonesia ranks 50th in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index; its economy worth $888.5 billion according to World Bank, is already the 16th largest in the world. Some economists argue that it could pass Germany and the United Kingdom to become the 7th largest economy by 2030. In 2016, the World Bank forecasts that Indonesia's economy will grow by 5.3 per cent; life expectancy in 2014 was 69 years; it has a GNI index of $3,630 and primary school enrolment rate of 106 per cent. It is rated as one of the world's emerging economies; it is a member of the G-20 major economies. Some of its major exports include oil and gas, cement, food, textiles and rubber.