Pertamina Supports MSMEs Product Innovation, Fostered Partner's Wood Batik are Favored by Expatriates and Star Hotels

Jakarta, January 22, 2021 - PT Pertamina (Persero) provides various forms of guidance through the Partnership Program to support its fostered MSMEs to upgrade. One of them is assisting so that the fostered partners can apply different innovations to their products. Therefore, people are more interested and develop their business so that they are more developed and upgraded.

The results of this assistance have been implemented by one of Pertamina's fostered MSME, Arif Anita Kusumawati. The owner of Anita Art & Collection MSME has made several innovations in her business. Armed with her skills in drawing batik, Anita began to pour her ideas into several works.

"I like household furniture. So, besides making batik on cloth, I also make wood batik to decorate the house," she said. The wooden batik artworks she creates, among others, are carved rono, mirrors, wall hangings, table decorations, and tissue boxes. Everything is done at her residence in Taman Permata Indah, Jalan Raya Kalijaten, Sidoarjo Regency, East Java.

The initial capital issued by Anita to start the business was IDR 500 thousand. The money is set aside from tutoring children. With this money, she opened a business at her home in Jalan Sepanjang, Taman, Sidoarjo. "Everything I do is self-taught," said Anita. Her first customers were Japanese. From there, requests just kept coming.

Anita said many of her customers are foreigners who work in Indonesia or expatriates. It makes it easier for her to take steps to develop a business. In 2003, she was invited to Japan by a kimono entrepreneur. Since then, orders and requests for her batik products have been pouring into the market.

Not only are individuals interested in Anita's products, but many star hotels, especially in Surabaya, use their products as hotel furniture. Apart from being directly profitable, it is also a marketing medium for hotel visitors. Thanks to her hard work, she could get a turnover of around IDR 20 to 50 million per month.

Decades of exploring the batik art world have made Anita's orientation no longer solely for profit. She wants to work while teaching batik to the broader community. "At home, I did workshops because I like teaching. Especially for children who want to learn batik," she said. This effort is one of the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) applications in the social sector.

Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations of Pertamina, Agus Suprijanto, added that Pertamina supports Anita's innovations. According to him, MSMEs must continue to compete to produce excellent and different products to be more attractive to customers. "This innovation can make MSMEs more developed and upgraded, and has an impact on job opportunities and supports economic growth, which is the implementation of SDGs point 8," Agus concluded.**