Indonesia hopes startups will play a big role in its free school lunch plan

JAKARTA — Indonesia wants local tech startups to play a major role in a nationwide free school lunch program being rolled out by the new government, and some companies are already interested in expanding their operations by taking part in the billion-dollar project.

President-elect and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, who will replace current leader Joko Widodo in October, promised ahead of February’s presidential election to provide free school lunches and milk to 78.5 million students in some 400,000 schools nationwide, aiming to reduce malnutrition and stunting among children.