“Addressing the Muslim Market: Can You Afford Not To?” asked AT Kearney, a consulting firm, in a recent report on the potentials and opportunities offered by a market segment populated by about one fifth of humanity.
It asserts here: “throughout the world, Muslims are becoming increasingly active as investors and manufacturers, bankers and traders, competitors and suppliers, and becoming real partners in a global economic system. Muslims comprise one of the fastest growing consumer markets in the world and, hence, represent a major growth opportunity for businesses around the world.”
Clearly the report is pointing out to the growing prosperity in some parts of the Muslim world, especially in the oil rich Gulf Countries and few in the South East Asia. This new status has enabled these people in the Muslim world to increase quantity and quality of their consumption, hence become a new consumer for the world products.
At home, we see the same interest towards the Indonesian market as more and more foreign companies opening new businesses in the country. South Korea is a prime example, with interest from steel manufacturing (Posco), retail (Lotte), tyre manufacturing (Hancook) and score of others. India and China are also keen to explore the Indonesian market, capitalizing on its abundance resources and a sizable and growing middle class hungry for cheap but quality products.
Interestingly, this week two large trade and business delegates from the United States and Turkey are in Jakarta, meeting their counterparts to explore trading and investment opportunities.
The US delegate is led by Vice Minister of Agriculture and the larger Turkish delegated is led by President HE Abdullah Gul. While the former is rather low key and came with specific purpose of tapping the hugely under-developed agribusiness sector; the latter came with a broader agenda of improving trade relations among the two countries, both are members of G20 and OIC. In OIC, the two countries are among the more developed Muslim countries compared to the rest, principally those in the Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.
It is indeed interesting to see where these two high profile visits may lead to. Will Indonesia becomes another marketplace for the American agriculture produces (as has been for certain commodities like soy bean) or Indonesia will become a base for production of many products for the American and the Turkish consumers. Perhaps only time will tell.***
Originally published on luqyantamanni.wordpress.com, April 6, 2011: view original.
