Indonesia UKM Forum, Ministry of SOEs and Pertamina Efforts in Empowering MSEs to Upgrade
Jakarta, August 24, 2021 – PT Pertamina (Persero), in collaboration with the Ministry of SOEs, continues to support MSEs in their efforts to improve, become more independent, advanced and expand internationally. Through the agenda of the Indonesia SME Forum held last week, Pertamina explained its active role in helping micro and small enterprises (MSEs) upgrade.
The Indonesia UKM Forum was opened by the Minister of Cooperatives and MSE, represented by the Special Staff of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, Fiki Satari. In his presentation, Fiki emphasized that MSEs are the backbone of the nation's economy, which absorbs many workers.
"MSMEs in Indonesia is one of the backbones of the nation's economy. This sector has 99% of the business population and has absorbed around 97% of the workforce. It also has contributed 60% of the National GDP, 58% of national investment, 22% of the digitization of MSMEs, and as many as 14% of them have contributed in the export sector," he explained.
The role of the Government added Fiki, is to concentrate on designing a national economic recovery program specifically for the MSE cluster by assisting in terms of supply of raw materials, financing, relaxation, discretion, to stimulus.
"And many other relaxation programs are presented to help MSMEs in Indonesia to quickly rise from the impact of the pandemic," he added.
Special Staff to the Minister of SOEs, Arya Sinulingga, added that the Ministry of SOEs also took part in the development of MSEs. It was recorded that until 2020, there were around 530 thousand MSEs that were fostered by SOEs.
"This number will continue to increase in line with the commitment of the Ministry of SOEs in supporting the progress of national MSMEs," he said.
This commitment is also manifested in several programs such as the SOE House (RB) to bring MSEs to grade level with 3 stages, namely Go Modern, Go Digital, and Go Global. Currently, the number of RBs throughout Indonesia has reached 245 with registered MSEs of more than 530 thousand units of MSEs. "Furthermore, there is the UMK PaDi (Digital Market) program as a large procurement or tender program that can only be participated by the MSE sector," he added.
One of the roles of the Ministry of SOEs in empowering MSEs is carried out by Pertamina. Vice President of CSR & SMEPP Management of Pertamina, Arya Dwi Paramita, said that since 1993 until now, there have been more than 65,000 MSEs assisted by Pertamina, spread in almost all parts of Indonesia.
"In addition to providing assistance, training, and coaching, Pertamina also takes on a role to build the resilience of micro and small businesses. It is one of the adaptive strategies that we apply to our fostered partners to be able to survive in the current pandemic era," he said.
With this empowerment method, Arya continued, there are tangible results that have been obtained by the MSEs assisted. For example, 621 fostered partners have received certification and business permits thanks to assistance from Pertamina. In addition, as many as 795 MSEs were promoted with 254 mentors of whom experienced an increase in turnover and 64 MSEs managed to become MSEs Go Global through the Pertamina UMK Academy event.
Arya added that through the MSE Funding Program and Rumah BUMN, Pertamina wants to provide energy that can move the economy--energy that fuels and energy that produce sustainable growth.
Pertamina also supports SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) achievement through implementing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)-based programs in all of its operational areas. It is part of the Social and Environmental Responsibility (TJSL) to realize economic benefits in the community.**