DFC Collaborates With Sampoerna Bank To Advance MSMEs In Indonesia

JAKARTA - PT Bank Sahabat Sampoerna (Bank Sampoerna) together with the United States International Development Finance Corporation (The United States International Development Corporation/DFC) emphasized concrete steps to jointly advance micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) while at the same time encouraging gender equality through increasing access to funding in Indonesia.

The affirmation was made through the inauguration of strategic cooperation on Wednesday, September 27, 2023. Not only considering the strategic impact on the resilience and growth of the national economy, DFC and Bank Sampoerna fully understand the important role of MSMEs in the framework of Sustainable Development, as well as how women need to be more empowered to be able to realize their potential.

For this reason, DFC will cooperate with Bank Sampoerna to be able to provide access to funding for more MSME entrepreneurs throughout Indonesia with special attention to female MSME entrepreneurs.

This strategic collaboration allows the use of capabilities from both parties to achieve common goals. With exposure worth more than US$35 billion, DFC not only has qualified financial capabilities, but is also known to always seriously consider the social impacts that will be carried out through various collaborations. On the other hand, Bank Sampoerna itself has a vision and mission to provide the best service for MSMEs through the use of digital technology.

Agnes Dasewicz, Chief Operating Officer of DFC stated that his party has high hopes for the impact of this strategic cooperation on MSMEs and increasing gender equality through expanding funding access for women.

"More than just providing funds for capital needs, DFC together with Bank Sampoerna carefully identified various obstacles that often hinder the development of MSMEs and actively and creatively seek solutions to knock down these barrier walls.," he said, in a written statement, Wednesday, September 27.

Meanwhile, Ali Rukmijah, CEO of Bank Sampoerna said, a great honor for Bank Sampoerna to cooperate with financial institutions with high standards such as DFC in carrying out sustainable development, especially through providing support for MSMEs and gender equality.

"Bank Sampoerna understands that this collaboration includes not only the financial aspect, but in a portion that is no less important is the aspect of social responsibility. Furthermore, the promotion of the vision between Bank Sampoerna and DFC provides additional motivation to be able to work innovatively and productively," Ali explained.

Henky Suryaputra, Director of Finance & Business Planning, further elaborated, Bank Sampoerna realized that MSMEs in Indonesia are a very large market, widely spread geographically and have various characteristics.

"For this reason, it is a necessity that collaboration from many parties is needed to be able to meet the needs of MSMEs. Bank Sampoerna itself has collaborated a lot, including with fintech companies, financial institutions, and even non-financial institutions. Strategic cooperation with DFC is certainly an additional important component of the existing ecosystem," he said.

Of the total financing of IDR 10.9 trillion disbursed by Bank Sampoerna at the end of June 2023, around 63 percent or IDR 6.9 trillion was channeled to MSME business actors, either directly or through collaboration with third parties, such as peer-to-peer lending and cooperative fintech companies. The entire financing also increased significantly by 25 percent from lending in the previous year and substantially exceeded the lending of banking industry loans, which in the same period increased by 7.7 percent.