Pertamina Accompanies until Upgraded, Here's the Success Story of Fostered MSMEs Doing Banana Business with Bright Gas

Jakarta, December 30, 2020 - Amid the Covid-19 pandemic conditions, PT Pertamina (Persero) provides massive guidance to the fostered MSMEs through the Partnership Program. Several programs are continuously being formulated to encourage MSMEs to upgrade. Pertamina also implements roadmap-based coaching starting from traditional conditions, becoming Go Modern, Go Digital, Go Online, to Go Global.

A series of coaching stages has been implemented by one of Pertamina's fostered MSMEs, Abdul Rahmat. Who would have thought about doing business in the culinary field of fried bananas would make his profit around IDR 5 million per day. "Every day, we serve orders for approximately 1,000 bananas, sometimes more," he said.

Previously, Abdul Rahmat and his wife were the only suppliers of Kepok bananas from Bengkulu to Pekanbaru. He retailed to a fried food vendor. However, he saw that his customers looked more advanced and successful, had a house, had increased business, and so on. Seeing that, the man who only graduated from high school began racking his brains to think about how to catch a successful infection.

"First, I learned to slice bananas first so that they can be thin and fan-shaped. Then I learned how to mix the fan banana flour spices to be tasty, crunchy, and delicious as they are now. It took months of trial and error. Until it brings out a distinctive taste like the texture of the Pisang Kipas 50 Gold now," said Abdul Rahmat.

Abdul Rahmat's Pisang Kipas 50 Gold products now provide two variants, namely cooked and half cooked. The half ones are specially created for souvenirs and can last two days stored in the freezer before being fully fried. Meanwhile, the price varies on the size, starting from small at IDR 2,000 per piece to a maximum of IDR 5,000 per piece.

As Pertamina's fostered partner, the business based on Jalan Sultan Syarif Qasim no 30b, Pekanbaru City, Riau is increasingly busy and successful. "We are very grateful to Pertamina because they helped a lot so that this business is progressing and well-known. Likewise, requests come from outside the city because people at Pertamina always introduce Pisang Kipas 50 Gold products to guests," he said.

One reason behind his busy fan banana orders is the technical speed in serving customers, especially since Rahmat changed his original fuel for frying bananas from 3 kg LPG melon to 5.5 kg or 12 kg Bright Gas. "If you use a 3 kg tube, it is not enough cooking oil in a 28-liter cauldron. So use the "pinky" is the right thing to do, enough to fry thousands of bananas one day," explained Rahmat.

Vice President of Corporate Communication of Pertamina, Fajriyah Usman, said that Pertamina appreciated Abdul Rahmat's business. According to her, Pertamina will continue to support similar MSMEs so that they can develop and upgrade. "With MSMEs advancing in class, the market opportunities will be more wide open. Therefore, it can provide many jobs and support economic growth," concluded Fajriyah.**