Malaysian Entrepreneurship through 'Building Back Better' (BBB) Agenda in the Redevelopment of Banda Aceh

The massive disaster earthquake has triggered Tsunami on 26 December 2004 and shattered capital city of Banda Aceh. The utmost affected components are infrastructure and services which require further redevelopment initiatives for 'Build Back Better' (BBB) agenda. These initiatives provide an opportunity for Malaysian entrepreneurs to invest for redevelopment projects of Banda Aceh. Inspired by the Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP), capitalising on potential market abroad; the aim of the research is to establish business potentials for Malaysian entrepreneurs in Banda Aceh. In order to achieve the aim, the objective of this paper is to identify the critical needs of Acehnese from various sectors (i.e., social economics; amenities, infrastructure and facilities; Legal and Political; and Technology). A-three-month of data collection was conducted in the form of literature search and document analysis from Banda Aceh Master Plan for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. To underpin the findings, a one-day workshop with expert panels from the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency; government officials from Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Aceh (BPBA) and researchers from Universitas Syiah Kuala, Aceh were employed. The findings revealed four critical business potentials for Malaysian entrepreneurs in Banda Aceh. These are water supply improvement; upgrading sanitation system; energy generation and improvement fisheries services. Collective incentives by Governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Aceh to assist Malaysian entrepreneurs in terms of law and regulations; tax exemptions and access to financing are required to be more strategic in the transformation of political relations, community recovery, rehabilitation and redevelopment of post-disaster agenda.