Teten Affirms The Need For Startup Development In The Upstream Sector, Here's The Explanation

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki emphasized that there is a need for startup development in the upstream sector. Because, currently many startups are emerging and only focus on the downstream sector.

This was revealed by Minister Teten at the 2023 Digital Heroes Pitching Day at the Kemenkop UKM Building, Jakarta, Wednesday, October 25.

"The number of startups that appear should not only focus on the downstream sector, but also focus on the upstream sector, by starting to direct digital development in the production sector," said Teten.

Menteri Teten mengatakan, sudah ada beberapa startup yang sukses mengembangkan sektor upstream dalam pengembangan digitalnya. Seperti, eFishery yang konsisten membangun ekosistem akultur teknologi buda daya sekanyi.

"Also, Elevarm, which focuses on the upstream side, is to provide supply solutions to small farmers with technology," he said.

Teten believes that the potential for domestic startups is very large. This is evident from countries such as Korea and Japan that praise startups in Indonesia. In Southeast Asia itself, he said, MSMEs are very strong in the agricultural sector, so they can become world food suppliers.

"They are considered not only to help the small (small business), but also to connect with big businesses, because large companies also need startups for connections to enter the supply chain. Hopefully, really (startup) can be relied on in supporting the country's digital economy," he said.

Not only that, Teten admitted that he had discussed with several e-commerce players. They are asked not to focus on providing discounts, but also to know how to develop MSME products so that they can compete.

"Digital startups need to know how to create a new economy, not kill the old economy," he concluded.

For your information, the Pitching Day series begins with the curation of startups assisted by incubator institutions as a result of the facilitation of the Kemenkop UKM during 2021-2023 with a total of 351 startups from 20 incubator institutions.

Furthermore, curation is carried out in accordance with the criteria for digital heroes to become 24 startups from the curation of the Kemenkop UKM team and 6 startups from the curation of the presidential special staff team.

Through the Pitching Day activity, as many as 10 selected startups will take part in the final series of Digital Heroes Awarding in December 2023.