Firstly, a very warm welcome to 2024 for everyone in the ARLF network. I hope you all had an opportunity to get off the hamster wheel and reflect on self, life and your leadership.
This year we will add a new leadership development program to our existing work that features our flagship, the ARLP as well as Milparanga, Australian Agribusiness Leadership program, TRAIL, Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative, Leading Australian Resilient Communities, Shape Your Energy Future and others.
Our new offering, the International Agribusiness Leadership Program, responds to a real need across the sector for an experiential learning opportunity for mid to senior level leaders in an international context. The concept for the program was developed following a range of conversations, primarily with our valued partner organisations currently supporting the Australian Agribusiness program.
We chose Indonesia as the setting for this program for a host of reasons. Firstly, Indonesia is the world’s 8th largest economy in purchasing power parity terms and expected to rise to 5th place by 2030. It is the fourth most populous nation (326 million by 2050) and by 2050 the median age will rise to 38 years providing a rising share of the population with higher incomes.
Indonesia is a growing market for Australian goods and services exporters. In 2021-22, total two-way trade in goods and services with Indonesia was worth A$18.35 billion, making Indonesia our 14th largest trading partner. In the same period, Australia exported an estimated $4.3 billion worth of agricultural goods to Indonesia while Indonesia exported $3.6Billion worth of goods to Australia.
Of course, the bilateral relationship is far more complex than this and there is much opportunity to deepen ties and understanding between our two countries.
In addition, we took no less than five cohorts of the ARLP (Course 21 – 25) to Indonesia for one session of their program. Over this five-year period, we not only created a unique and immersive learning experience but developed deep networks and relationships throughout Indonesia.
While the first year of the program will feature mostly Australian agribusiness leaders immersing in an Indonesian context (there will likely be a limited number of Indonesian participants also), our aim is that the program matures to be more fully cross-cultural and feature elements in both Indonesia and Australia. We also anticipate that the program will attract participants from other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
The program will:
- Explore the dynamic cultural, economic and political landscapes shaping international agribusiness
- Establish valuable cross-border relationships and networks within the agribusiness sector
- Explore evolving patterns and trends in global agribusiness within the context of the Asia-Pacific region
- Use human-centred design thinking and systems mapping concepts to help address complex agribusiness challenges
- Feature cross-cultural communication and advocacy in agribusiness
We anticipate that this 10-day, single session program will enhance leadership practice among mid to senior-level Australian and Indonesian agribusiness executives, foster a deeper understanding of leadership within shared cultural, geopolitical, and trade contexts and build strong business and personal relationships within and between Indonesian and Australia agribusiness.
Further detail can be found on our website.
I encourage you to consider this opportunity for you, your organisation or industry and your broader network.
