Indonesia has no shortage of craftsmanship.

Walk through workshops in Yogyakarta, Solo, Pekalongan, Bali or countless communities elsewhere in the archipelago and you can find textiles, furniture, natural materials, food products, accessories and crafts with stories that international brands would spend considerable money trying to invent.

Indonesia already possesses the raw ingredients: heritage, materials, creativity, craftsmanship and identity.

Yet relatively few Indonesian micro, small and medium enterprises become meaningful international brands.

That suggests an important distinction.

The problem may not be: "How do we create more Indonesian products?"

It may be: "How do we turn excellent Indonesian products into businesses that international markets can confidently buy from?"

The export gap remains significant

UMKM are structurally important to Indonesia's economy. Government figures have long placed their contribution at around 61% of GDP, while a 2025 Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs statement put their share of Indonesia's exports at only around 15.7%.

KADIN highlighted the challenge even more sharply in October 2025, reporting that only roughly 35,000–40,000 UMKM were actively exporting and noting a national ambition to create hundreds of thousands of additional exporters by 2030.

The numbers vary depending on how UMKM are counted — and those methodological differences deserve care — but the direction is clear.

Indonesia has an enormous entrepreneurial base and a comparatively much smaller population of internationally active businesses.

Export readiness is a chain

A beautiful product is only the beginning.

To succeed in Europe, a business may need:

Weakness in any one of these areas can stop the entire process.

This is why export promotion cannot simply mean putting Indonesian SMEs into an international trade exhibition and hoping buyers appear.

The real work often happens before the trade show.

Pekalongan offers an interesting glimpse of another model

A recent Netherlands–Indonesia initiative around batik provides a particularly interesting example.

The Green Batik Design Challenge, held in 2025, involved batik houses in Pekalongan exploring sustainability alongside design and cultural connection. Ten selected works were subsequently showcased at the Jejak Batik exhibition at Erasmus Huis in Jakarta from March to April 2026.

At first glance, this might look like a cultural programme.

But strategically, something much more interesting is happening.

Batik is being connected to:

heritage + environmental sustainability + design + storytelling + international relationships.

That combination could potentially move Indonesian craftsmanship away from competing primarily on low price and toward competing on provenance, design integrity, sustainability and cultural value.

This is exactly where Indonesia could become much more interesting to premium European markets.

Sustainability should add value — not become another burden

There is a danger here too.

European sustainability requirements can easily become another complicated layer of compliance for small Indonesian producers.

Certification is expensive. Documentation takes time. Supply chains may be informal. Small workshops cannot necessarily employ sustainability managers or regulatory specialists.

If European market access requires standards that small producers cannot realistically navigate, sustainability can unintentionally become a barrier rather than an opportunity.

The solution therefore cannot simply be telling Indonesian SMEs to "meet European standards."

They may need an ecosystem that helps translate those standards into practical changes in materials, production, documentation, packaging and business models.

The Netherlands as a gateway, not merely a destination

This is where I see an interesting Netherlands–Indonesia proposition.

The Netherlands could potentially function as more than a country to which Indonesian businesses export.

It could act as a test market and gateway into Europe.

Dutch capabilities in design, logistics, sustainability, international trade and market development could complement Indonesian production and craftsmanship.

Imagine a high-potential Indonesian brand going through a structured programme:

  1. Product selection
  2. European market validation
  3. Sustainability assessment
  4. Design refinement
  5. Pricing
  6. Compliance
  7. Storytelling
  8. Buyer introduction
  9. Dutch pilot market
  10. Wider European expansion

Not every UMKM should export.

And not every traditional product needs to become an international lifestyle brand.

Part of a good market strategy is identifying businesses that should not internationalise yet.

But for those with genuine potential, the opportunity is compelling.

Indonesia does not need Europe to teach it how to create beautiful things.

It already knows how.

The opportunity is to build better bridges between what Indonesia makes exceptionally well and the international markets willing to value it properly.

And perhaps some of Indonesia's most exciting future exports will sit precisely at that intersection:

Heritage × Sustainability × Design × Global Market Readiness.