Collaborating with World Honey Farmers, Pertamina's Fostered MSMEs Initiates Honey Global Project  

Jakarta, October 6, 2020 – One aim of the empowerment of Fostered MSMEs of PT Pertamina (Persero) is to encourage MSMEs to Go Global. Able to compete internationally and lift domestic products to be known worldwide. Bali Honey, one of Pertamina's fostered MSMEs, is currently initiating the Honey Global Project.

Bali Honey's owner, Ismail Marzuki, explained that the Honey Global Project is a movement to produce honey products domestically that can go international. To realize this, they have to collaborate with honey farmers from several countries. "By chance, we have friends who are honey farmers in Australia, Europe, United States, and other ASEAN countries. We will initiate to create this movement," he said.

The agreement which has been made, added Ismail, by the participant of this project is to create a honey store. There will be pure honey or processed products from all over the world, including Indonesia. Therefore, the taste and repertoire of honey from Indonesia will be felt globally. "We are sure they (foreigners) will like our honey," he said.

Not only about buying and selling honey. The commitment that has been agreed on in the Global project is about the preservation of native honey, namely, by developing and preserving natural honey from various native Indonesian flowers. That way, the unique honey taste can only be found in Indonesia.

"One example is honey from the flower of the randu tree. This tree produces cotton for pillows or mattresses. However, because many have moved to use a spring bed, this tree is considered useless. Because the wood is not hard either, they are cut down. Even though the honey produced from the nectar of the flowers is very delicious," said Ismail.

For this reason, the Honey Global Project will create a global movement among fostered honey farmers so that natural honey can be sustainable. That way, it will be able to produce natural honey products that are globally competitive. Besides that, it also empowers honey farmers to be prosperous and more independent.

Ismail himself has been a Pertamina Fostered Partner since 2020. However, until today, several benefits have been felt. It includes increasing production to a more robust network in marketing products. The business potential is still growing rapidly.

He gets an average monthly turnover of IDR 150 million. Meanwhile, in certain months where the harvest is abundant, the business can earn more than IDR 200 million per month. "If the weather is good and it's not the rainy season, the produce is abundant while the quality remains good," he said.

Meanwhile, Vice President of Corporate Communication of Pertamina, Fajriyah Usman, added that Pertamina appreciated the efforts made by Bali Honey MSME. According to her, this effort helped to boost efforts to use local Indonesian products to Go Global. Therefore, it can assist the government's efforts in restoring the national economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pertamina, through the Partnership Program, continued Fajriyah, will encourage all Fostered MSMEs Partners to be able to follow Bali Honey to Go Global. Pertamina will provide several intensive coaching and mentoring to realize this mission. "We will try to make all of our Foster Partners be able to upgrade to Go Global," concluded Fajriyah.**