18 May A New Partnership to Reach One of the Most Promising Markets in Asia

Norway Connect, a business advisory network mainly assisting Norwegian companies with market entry services in Southeast Asia today signed a co-operation agreement with Seven Stones Indonesia and its registered operating company PT Tujuh Batu Mulia International, an Indonesian company headed by Norwegian entrepreneur Terje Holte Nilsen.

Terje Nilsen first came to Indonesia as a child. After earning his degree in Business Administration from Agder University in Norway, he moved to Indonesia in 1993, where he has worked in leading positions in the educational field as well as in the fitness industry all over Indonesia including Jakarta, Banjarmasin, Medan and Bali. In 2004 Terje moved on to the property sector on the tropical island of Bali where he started his own business that evolved into Seven Stones Indonesia, a company that today employs 30 staff.

Norway Connect was set up in 2017 following the Norwegian government’s decision to close the Innovation Norway offices in Thailand and Malaysia. The network was built by former consultants and staff working with Innovation Norway having offered market entry services in Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia for over a decade. Since 2017, Norway Connect has assisted and continues to assist and represent several Norwegian brands with presence in Southeast Asia. Norway Connect works closely with the Norwegian Chambers of Commerce in the region as well as the Norwegian diplomatic missions. “When Innovation Norway announced that they were closing their office in Jakarta, we saw an opportunity in expanding the network to Indonesia”, says Norway Connect founder Axel Blom from Bangkok.

Norway Connect’s new partner in Indonesia, Seven Stones Indonesia, was founded in 2016 and was built on foundations in the from the real estate industry in Bali seeing how systems weren’t being used, how laws and regulations were blatantly being ignored or manipulated and how, at the end of the day, for all of that, customers were simply seen as sources of money.

Founder Terje Nilsen iterates: We left comfortable positions in successful businesses to create something different; something based around the ideas of care, empathy, spirituality and creativity. We believe in modelling our business around the concept of a greater good to enhance the lives of the people around us. We encourage success and we actively support like-minded souls on their missions. We’re an ethical company that focuses on doing good … then doing well. For us, this means doing good, honest business. It’s an ethos, which creates a culture of trust, honesty and integrity among our team, our vendors, our clients and our business partners.

Today, Seven Stones Indonesia offer comprehensive legal, property and marketing services covering seven key areas:

• Honest and professional legal advice and consultations
• Private and commercial property sales and rentals
• Investment road-maps and consultations
• Training, seminars and conferences
• Special projects and branding consultations
• Feasibility studies
• Original content creation

In the next 12-18 months, the company will be launching the Seven Stones Nordic House Business Club in Jakarta. This will provide an exclusive and trustworthy platform for businesses to develop strong professional relationships in Indonesia. Seven Stones Indonesia’s value-added services will include market entry assistance, legal guidance, business representation, networking events, real estate services and PR activities designed to assist business entities to tap into the Indonesian market. In the meantime, we will work on setting up an office and relocating staff to the new setup in Jakarta to support Norwegian business interests. Further details to follow.

“We believe Indonesia’s future looks bright. Under the current administration, political stability is assured and according to the World Bank, “despite heightened global uncertainty, Indonesia’s economic outlook continues to be positive, with domestic demand being the main driver of growth.” A concerted effort to attract more Foreign Direct Investment has resulted in many regulations being eliminated or revised and we believe we are ideally placed to offer support in this evolving climate, especially because we keep up-to-date with the latest Omnibus Bills.”