In Front Of MenkopUKM Teten, Jokowi Asks MSMEs Not To Just Be Spectators In The Digital Trade Era

President Joko Widodo. (Photo: Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said during the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization was a solution for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and cooperatives to survive. Activity restrictions make digital trading activities even more massive. Therefore, Jokowi does not want MSMEs to only be spectators.

This was conveyed by Jokowi at the opening of the National Coordination Meeting on Digital Transformation and Complete Data Collection on Cooperatives and SMEs at the State Palace, Monday, March 28. The event was also attended by the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki.

Jokowi said that currently, only 17.5 million MSMEs have gone digital. However, Jokowi is not satisfied with this achievement and wants to increase more MSME players who enter the digital ecosystem. At the same time encourages the acceleration of digital transformation.

"We must not only be spectators in the midst of massive digital trading activities. We must flood the marketplace, MSMEs, cooperatives must flood the marketplace with domestic products, our MSME products", said Jokowi.

However, Jokowi does not deny that there must be improvements from upstream to downstream. Improvements are considered necessary so that MSMEs can be more qualified and competitive.

"We have to fix the packaging and branding together," he said.

For this reason, Jokowi said that he had signed Presidential Decree No. 2 of 2022 concerning the Development of National Entrepreneurship 2021-2024. The Presidential Regulation aims to change the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country for the better.

"I want our entrepreneurial economy to improve and there will be more new young entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs who are productive, creative, and ready to advance Indonesian MSMEs and are ready to compete in the global market", he said.

In addition, Jokowi also asked the government from the central and not regional levels to continue to work hard to improve the domestic business ecosystem. Among them is to facilitate the licensing process must continue to be facilitated and access to capital must continue to be expanded.

"Innovation and technology must continue to be strengthened and our MSME products must continue to be more creative and attractive, from the regional center we must continue to work hard to improve the quality of our MSME human resources", he said.

Improving the quality of human resources (HR) which Jokowi means is providing training related to new skills, recognizing and utilizing pre-production technology and various digital technologies that are beneficial for business development.