Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s Ministry of Creative Economy has launched the Islamic Creative Economy Founders Fund (ICEFF) 2025, a sharia-based financing program aimed at helping creative entrepreneurs expand their businesses and strengthen access to inclusive funding nationwide.
“ICEFF 2025 returns to give creative players the opportunity to move up. Through this program, we provide both mentoring and sharia-based financing,” Minister of Creative Economy Teuku Riefky Harsya said in a statement Thursday.
The ICEFF 2025 program serves as a platform for learning, mentorship, and matchmaking between creative entrepreneurs and Islamic financial institutions to promote sustainable financing.
Following previous events in Demak and Depok, the latest session in Bandung brought together 50 selected creative entrepreneurs for a three-day bootcamp and pitching event that opened with a traditional angklung performance by ministry officials and representatives from West Java’s provincial government.
Participants pitched business ideas to Islamic financial institutions and attended sessions on funding access led by Anggara Hayun Anujuprana, the ministry’s Director for Financing and Investment Access Development.
“Through ICEFF 2025, creative entrepreneurs can access financing from banks, securities crowdfunding, cooperatives, and tokenization schemes. Each institution offers instruments tailored to creative business needs,” Anggara said.
West Java Tourism and Culture Agency head Iendra Sofyan welcomed the event, noting that the province hosts 1.5 million creative businesses employing 163,000 people, or 42.6 percent of the region’s total workforce.
Ministry Special Staff for Internal Management M. Yanuar Pranuradhi said President Prabowo Subianto’s Asta Cita vision underscores the central role of the creative economy, which aligns with the ministry’s eight flagship programs known as Asta Ekraf.
Helmi Suhendry, the ministry’s Subdirectorate Head for Financing Scheme Development, said 1,471 applicants registered online, but only 50 were selected for the Bandung bootcamp, held from Oct. 29–31.
