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Dublin. Unable to find local mentorship, Indonesian Internet start-up entrepreneurs have turned to Ireland to learn how to survive in the creative industry.

Ireland is far from Indonesia, but as a country of about 4.5 million people with high dependence on exports, it frequently seeks opportunities abroad. Its focus is shifting to emerging markets such as Indonesia, where growth potential is higher and it can transfer skills and knowledge.

“Indonesia needs to make itself more investor friendly,” Patrick O’Riordan, an official at the Irish Embassy in Singapore and Enterprise Ireland director for Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, said at a meeting between Irish companies and Indonesian delegates this week in Dublin.

He said Indonesia has to compete with Singapore and Malaysia, which have enticed multinational companies to set up regional offices. O’Riordan, who has visited Indonesia frequently since 2008, pointed to infrastructure and accessibility of information as the two biggest challenges.

However, he said Indonesia had potential because it represents more than 40 percent of Southeast Asia’s population, which he put at about 550 million, with big opportunities in education and technology.

Enterprise Ireland, a government agency that promotes Irish companies in world markets, met with four founders of Indonesian Web start-up community StartupLokal in Jakarta in January and extended an invitation to visit the Emerald Isle to meet with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

On Monday, five Irish tech companies came to Enterprise Ireland’s office at East Point Business Park and explored the possibility of expanding their presence in Southeast Asia’s largest market. All of them sought local partnerships because they lacked experience in the Asian market.

“The way Indonesian consume the Internet is totally different than us,” O’Riordan told each Irish company before StartupLokal’s initiators explained further about mobile and Internet penetration in Indonesia. Although Ireland has full penetration in mobile and Internet, its people generally do not browse the Web on the go.

“We don’t commute as much as people in Jakarta,” he said, comparing it to Ireland’s capital. “[In Dublin], we can reach home within half an hour and use the Internet through desktops and fixed lines.”

Natali Ardianto, one of StartupLokal’s initiators, said Indonesians would not mind spending more on data plans because they need to “stay connected” wherever they are.

“My friend here is using five SIM cards for her phones and tablet,” he said, pointing at Aulia Halimatussadiah, another StartupLokal member who was also at the meeting.

Aulia said she needed to have a back-up at all times, in case one or two gadgets of hers ran out of charge. She said it was common for Indonesians to spend four hours in traffic per day, something unthinkable in a small country with an advanced transportation system like Ireland.

In that alone, the Irish firms realized they help from local companies to be able to tap the market. Career Decisions Ireland, a company focusing on career assessment programs, is looking for potential partner in Asia after it expanded its service to Europe and the United States.

“We’re interested in doing business with the government sector and private companies that understand the market [in Indonesia],” said Miriam Magner Flynn, managing director and co-founder of Career Decisions Ireland. She will visit Indonesia in April to further that interest.

Under the High Potential Start-Up department, Enterprise Ireland selects about 70 out of 1,200 candidates for High Potential Start-Ups each year and provides an equity funding package worth up to 500,000 euros ($697,000).

John Convery, senior development adviser for the department, said Enterprise Ireland has a dedicated start-up team that provides guidance in technology, finance, human resource development and marketing strategy. About 76 percent of the start-ups mentored by Enterprise Ireland are still operating, while 4 percent have been acquired by bigger companies.

Though the meeting was brief, the StartupLokal members did learn how start-ups can survive and thrive. All the members said they hoped the Indonesian government could emulate Ireland’s efforts.

“We know the government has other priorities in mind, so all we can do is to develop it as much as we can,” Sanny Gaddafi said. He said at least two Irish firms that were present on Monday, Movidius and Retail Media Systems, were interested in a partnership with Indonesian companies.