Pertamina Boosts MSME Development Through Technology Grants

JAKARTA - PT Pertamina (Persero) provided appropriate technology grants to 28 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) worth a total of IDR 690 million which was distributed in stages since the end of 2023.

Pertamina Vice President of Corporate Communication Fadjar Djoko Santoso in his statement in Jakarta, Monday, March 11, stated that MSMEs are the lifeblood and pillars of the regional and national economy.

Pertamina's support for MSMEs is expected to spur the growth of MSMEs and improve the family and community economy.

"For this reason, Pertamina consistently makes efforts to develop MSMEs through training programs, exhibitions, and assistance for technology grants, so that business actors can produce products that are highly competitive, so that they have a great opportunity to develop export-oriented products," he said, quoted by Antara.

Technological grants were given to Pertamina's Champion UMK Academy in 2023 and the top 10 Pertapreneur Aggregator participants. The tools include sewing machines, cutting machines, diesel machines, pellet printing machines, food processing tools, coffee pangolins, and other production equipment.

Fadjar explained that the UMK Academy is a competition program for Pertamina's fostered partners. The program is designed to print UMK "upgrading" or able to improve its quality.

UMK Academy participants received various coaching through four development curriculums, namely Go Modern, Go Digital, Go Online, and Go Global. The program lasts for 5-6 months, where at the end of the program, business actors who show an increase can take part in further selection.

The selection is in the form of curation from expert resource persons to determine the UMK Champion and UMK Aggregator or MSMEs who are able to become a forum for collaboration with other fostered MSMEs.

One of the grant recipients from the Go Modern class, Sriyati received the various cooking utensils she needed.

"The equipment is very useful for us, especially ahead of Ramadan and Eid because our orders for pastries are increasing," said the owner of Padma Bakery.

Meanwhile, the runner-up champion from the Go Global class, Nindita Nareswari, owner of the S'Best Kitchen, admitted that she was more disciplined in running the business plan after attending the UMK Academy.

He admitted that according to the UMK Academy's assistance, in 2024, S'Best will follow the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification to smooth out its expansion to Taiwan and China.

"The making of the certificate is a motivation from Pertamina and expert resource persons in the Go Global class so that we can immediately complete the requirements for cooperation that will be established by importers from Taiwan and China," said Nindita.

S'Best is a typical Sumatran processed producer such as pempek, tenggiri amplant, tenggiri stick andtehead fish and fish dumplings.

Judging from the benefits of the UMK Academy program, Fadjar added that Pertamina will open the 2024 UMK Academy program to capture new MSMEs.

"The enthusiasm of Pertamina's fostered partners to always improve their quality is very high. We hope that this year more and more MSMEs will "upgrade" and even be able to go globally to expand to the international market," said Fadjar.

Pertamina's commitment to encouraging MSMEs is in line with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) point 8, namely inclusive and sustainable economic growth and full and productive workforce.