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The talk show featured two speakers from different backgrounds: Dr. Dadam Mahdar, S.Sos., M.Hum., the Director of Fine Arts and Performing Arts at the Ministry of Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, and Ben Wirawan, the CEO and Co-founder of Torch.id.

Dr. Dadam Mahdar delivered a presentation titled “Art and Creative Economy: The Foundation for Indonesia's Innovation and Progress.” He emphasized that art and culture are pillars of progress and essential foundations for nation-building, especially in showcasing Indonesia's identity amidst globalization.

According to him, the creative economy has become "The New Engine of Growth" for the nation. He defined the creative economy as the embodiment of added value from intellectual property based on cultural heritage, science, and/or technology.

Dr. Dadam also presented data on the sector's contribution, where the fine arts market contributes 0.23% (IDR 3,287 Billion) to the National GDP with 88,756 workers, while the performing arts market contributes 0.31% (IDR 4,352.7 Billion) with 287,952 workers. To expand this scale, he highlighted the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration and the government's role through various policies, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, and promotion.

“Art and culture are not just heritage, but an essential foundation for building the future of Indonesia's creative economy,” said Dr. Dadam.

Meanwhile, Ben Wirawan shared his practical experience in a session titled “Torch’s Journey to the Forbes Asia 100 to Watch 2025.” He recounted Torch.id's journey of growing from 6 to 200 employees amidst the challenges of Indonesia's business ecosystem, which he noted ranks 7th in ASEAN for ease of access to capital.

The main strategy he applied is "validated learning," a cycle of iteration and efficiency without sacrificing value. For those starting out, he advised focusing on the "search phase" (proving the value hypothesis).

Facing the challenge of high media costs, Ben emphasized the importance of building a personal "customer journey." “What you have to do is create a journey for each customer persona. The longer the message is talked about, and the more people talk about it, the better,” he explained.

Ben also advised brand pioneers not to give up easily in the early years, as a brand's existence is usually only felt in its third to fifth year. “We must create products/designs that are relevant at all times (timeless),” he added.

The "Narawicara: The Art of Speaking" talk show served as a forum for participants to understand the creative economy's competitiveness from two perspectives: the government's macro-level policy and the industry practitioner's micro-level strategy. The event affirmed that the synergy between cultural preservation, artistic innovation, and adaptive business strategies is the key to advancing Indonesia's creative economy.

Reporter: Chysara Rabani (Mining Engineering, 2022)