Mekar Investama Teknologi Expands Funding Distribution

JAKARTA - PT Mekar Investama Teknologi, a licensed peer to peer lending platform with a funding focus on MSMEs who do not have access to banking or are unbankable in Indonesia, is committed to participating in eradicating illegal online lending networks which often harm society today.

In order to realize this commitment, one of the company's efforts is to collaborate with the National Workers' Union (SPN) to collaborate in expanding the funding distribution sector to the employee segment in Indonesia, starting with funding for PT Long Rich Indonesia employees, accompanied by educational and financial literacy activities.

President Director of PT Mekar Investama Teknologi Pandu Aditya K. said that the collaboration with SPN PT Long Rich Indonesia was the Company's first step in expanding its funding. PT Long Rich Indonesia itself is a manufacturing company for a number of well-known shoe brands which has 22,000 employees.

According to Pandu, for more than the last seven years, MEKAR has focused on funding unbankable MSMEs through collaboration with cooperatives. To date, more than 100,000 micro and small business actors, the majority of whom are women, have benefited from alternative funding through the MEKAR platform.

However, on the other hand, as a P2P industry player, the Company certainly does not necessarily close its eyes to the industry dynamics that are occurring. Pandu said MEKAR saw another quite serious problem, namely the rise of illegal loans and financial inclusion that was not balanced with financial literacy.

"As a result, many community members are caught in predatory lending by illegal loans. Apart from that, many also access alternative funding services irresponsibly, which actually burdens the borrower's financial condition. For this reason, our newest service is here with the hope of the community, especially workers who need additional funding can find the right and safe solution," he said in a press release, Friday 5 July.

Pandu said that the funding goals for these individuals will of course remain focused on meeting emergency funding needs or other productive needs.

The company will do this by collaborating with companies and labor unions to provide funding facilities to workers at affordable rates and longer loan tenors to ensure workers are not burdened in fulfilling payment obligations.

Collaboration with companies and labor unions is also needed to ensure financial literacy and education for prospective borrowers can be carried out effectively so that workers can utilize these services responsibly.

"We hope that with the expansion of this service and the financial literacy that we carry out simultaneously, workers can be free from the trap of illegal loans, be able to access affordable alternative funding services, and be able to use these facilities responsibly to meet emergency needs and improve the quality of life recipient of funds," he said.

The main director of PT Long Rich Indonesia, Mr. James, fully supports the collaborative activities facilitated by MEKAR to provide easy funding for PT Long Rich Indonesia's SPN. According to him, this collaboration will help employees meet their needs which will ultimately make employees more focused and productive.

"We hope that this collaboration will prevent our workers from being trapped by illegal lending online and make workers more educated regarding finances," said Mr James.