For centuries, the Minangkabau trade in mining and agriculture products has been a major source of the dynamic progress of the Indian Ocean economy.
[2]: 79 Invited by King Regale and his predecessors, many Minang people crossed the Malacca strait to Johor to collect gold chunks.
The Minangkabau gold traders were often the leading mining entrepreneurs, who relied on the Tanah Datar political system to protect them as they led their caravan of one hundred or more men on foot down the rugged slopes of Bukit Barisan to the harbor in the west coast.
The commodities brought from the Minangkabau Highlands to the Malacca strait or the Indian Ocean to be sold to foreign traders.
Most of trade to the east coast was carried out via major rivers such as the Kampar, Siak, Indragiri and Batang Hari.
Because of the trading activity, many Minang traders migrated and established colonies along the west and east coast of Sumatra, even to the Malay peninsula.
On the west coast, they established trading posts in Meulaboh, Barus, Natal, Pariaman, Padang up to Bengkulu.
The Padri War which lasted for more than 30 years, tried to expel the Dutch merchants who tried to monopolize all Minangkabau trade goods.
[1] Despite being under colonial control, the Minang realm also gave birth to several influential businessmen, including Abdul Gani Rajo Mangkuto and Muhammad Saleh.
Hasyim Ning, Rahman Tamin, Sidi Tando and Rukmini Zainal Abidin were the top conglomerates in Indonesia during the liberal democracy period.
As a result, many Minang entrepreneurs have succeeded in Malaysia, such as Nasimuddin Amin, Kamarudin Meranun, and also the royal family of Negeri Sembilan who owned some of companies.
At the end of 1990s, several Minang businessmen led by Abdul Latief, Aminuzal Amin, Nasroel Chas, and Fahmi Idris established a joint venture company Nagari Development Corporation (NDC), which aims to improve the Minangkabau community.
With owning of the land, the position of the Minang community is not only as cultivators, but also as traders who sell their products to the end users.
The prominent Minangkabau restaurant chain is Restoran Sederhana managed by Bustamam, which has over 160 outlets across Indonesia and Malaysia.
[13] Besides Restoran Sederhana, other Minang restaurant chains that have expanded overseas are Sari Ratu, Garuda and Natrabu.
Nowadays, some of Minang textile entrepreneurs have also developing chain of wholesale clothing stores, such as Elzatta of Elidawati Ali Oemar as well as Shafira and Zoya by Fenny Mustafa.
[19] Minangkabau businesspeople also play a role in developing Indonesia and Malaysia economy, ranging from banking, coal mining, oil palm and rubber plantations, pharmacy, automotive, entertainment, groceries, as well as education industry.
they are also developing some of start-up companies as well as being quite active as capital market players at the Indonesia and Malaysia stock exchanges.