He was greeted by Bukalapak chief operating officer Willix Halim and chief sales officer Teddy Oetomo, who engaged him in a discussion on the role of Bukalapak in mainstreaming Indonesia on the global digital economy landscape.

They also discussed how Bukalapak had achieved this mission by helping SMEs, the backbone of the Indonesian economy, align with digital platforms to sell their products.

Indonesia's approximately 62.9 million SMEs play a huge role in the country’s economy as they accounted for 99.9 percent of all businesses in 2017. Besides, SMEs contributed 62.5 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018.

However, they contributed only 14.17 percent, equivalent to Rp 298.2 trillion (US$20.8 billion) to national non-oil and gas exports, which totaled Rp 2.10 quadrillion in 2017. Lack of proper access to the wider local and global market is often cited as the biggest obstacle for the growth of SMEs.

Turnbull said he wanted to learn how digital platforms in Indonesia could give local SMEs access to wider markets along with new innovations in such initiatives during his visit to Indonesia, hence his visit to Bukalapak.

The former prime minister also explored ways to strengthen bilateral ties between Indonesia and Australia so that the two sides could exchange knowledge and best practices related to the digital economy ecosystem building.

In his opening remarks, Turnbull, who also has professional experience as an investment banker, lawyer and journalist, said collaboration in the digital technology sector remained the top priority in Indonesia-Australia ties.

“I am very impressed with the brilliant work of the young Bukalapak team. I believe that Bukalapak can play a big role in making President Joko Widodo’s vision of streamlining Indonesia into the global digital economy landscape a reality,” he said.

Turnbull also interacted with several Bukalapak employees who had studied in Australia.

Willix explained to Turnbull that since its inception in 2010, Bukalapak had made a continuous endeavor to realize its vision of empowering Indonesians through the promise of digital technology innovations.

“We focus on creating various innovative products and programs which are relevant to the Indonesian mass market,” Willix said.

Bukalapak has reached more than 2 million individual vendors and agents, helping them make use of its online marketplace, helping these individual entrepreneurs gain access to a wider local and global market.

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