“Tonight has been a great opportunity to expand my networks. I’ve made a few new friends and met some prospective business partners. It’s been useful for our company, which is new to Indonesia”, says PR consultant, Shannon Smith.

Mr Smith was one of the guests at the first Australia Indonesia Young Professionals networking event on January 17. The event, which was organised by the Australia Indonesia Youth Association (AIYA), brought together 100 young professionals from a range of industries for an evening of mingling and exchanging business cards.

According to the event organiser and AIYA co‐founder, Rachelle Cole, the purpose of the event was to help young people of both nationalities expand their social and professionals networks. “We noticed that there was nothing in Jakarta for young Australian professionals working in Indonesia and young Indonesian professionals who have studied in Australia. We wanted to bring these two groups together”, says Ms Cole.

AIYA, the group behind the networking events, is a youth‐run organisation that connects Australian graduates to Indonesia‐related careers and business opportunities. “These events will be especially useful for Australians who are new to Jakarta and want to meet Indonesians and expand their networks here”, says Ms Cole. In addition to networking events, AIYA wants to bring a youth voice to the Australia‐Indonesia relationship and will hold a conference in Jakarta later this year.

The event on Tuesday, which was held at Poste Restaurant & Bar, marked the inauguration of a series of networking events that will take place every three months. While this first event was a launch, subsequent events will be targeted at specific sectors and will feature speakers who are already leaders in their fields.

It is hoped that this initiative will lead to more collaboration and partnerships between young Indonesians and Australians and a stronger and more positive people‐to‐people and business relationship between the two countries.

For more details please contact:

Rachelle Cole
[email protected]
+6285715275977