Banggai Islands DPMPTSP comfirms FreeNow permit

Banggai Islands Regency Investment and One-Stop Integrated Services Office (DPMPTSP) Head Din L. Lamasada, confirmed that the FreeNow Food Co., Ltd company has obtained an official permit to operate in Indonesia. The company has representatives in Jakarta, Pekanbaru City, Riau Province, and Manado City, North Sulawesi Province.

"The [company's] permit is done. Currently, all that remains is to add the types of business activities in the Indonesian Standard Classification of Business Fields (KBLI) with the 01261 code, which relates to the purchase and plantation of coconuts. The location is in Banggai Islands," explained Din.

He revealed that the value of FreeNow's investment in the area reached Rp10 billion to Rp150 billion. This investment is expected to be a great opportunity for Banggai Islands Regency in improving its economic sectors and attracting more investment to the region.

Din also highlighted the still minimal foreign direct investment in several areas of Central Sulawesi.

"Currently, of the 13 regencies and cities in Central Sulawesi, Banggai Islands and Banggai Laut still do not have FDI (foreign direct investment). Hopefully, FDI come come to the region after the [local governments'] coordination meeting in Palu [City, Central Sulawesi] in March [2025]," he said.

Meanwhile, Din noted that Central Sulawesi and its constituent cities and regencies have generally exceeded the domestic investment target set by the Investment Ministry, which continues to increase annually.

"The ministry's annual domestic investment target each year is around Rp4 billion. Alhamdulillah, we can reach Rp6 billion. However, we must admit that we achieved only Rp3.6 billion out of the previous target of Rp5 billion. We will of course be more optimistic about achieving the target set [by the ministry] should foreign investment comes to [Banggai Islands Regency]," explained Din.

In addition to investing in the coconut plantation sector, FreeNow has also showed interest in helping promote Banggai Islands tourism in China.

"In the long term, we hope FreeNow can help build the branding of Banggai Islands through their network so more foreign tourists will be interested in visiting this area," Din concluded.