Rumah BUMN SIG Dukung UMKM Populasin Sirop Buah Kawista Khas Rembang

Sirop taste of Kawista Soraya fruit from Ahmad Soffa in the show room of the STI BUMN House in Rembang. (Photo: Doc. SIG)

The trend of contemporary drinks with various flavors that are currently developing, encourages Ahmad Soffa (40 years), an MSME activist from Rembang to develop a sirop business from the kawista with the support of the Rembang BUMN (RB) House managed by PT Semen Gresik, a subsidiary of PT Semen Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (SIG). Ahmad Soffa managed to sell thousands of bottles of kawista fruit sirop to the Rembang, Blora, Pati, and Tuban areas.

According to the man who is familiarly called Soffa, the kawista fruit, known for its unique aroma and taste, is increasingly difficult to find.

"I see the potential here, not only from the business side, but also how to maintain Rembang's legacy. The tree producing kawista fruit in Rembang is now starting to be difficult to find because it is rare for parties to cultivate it, while the kawista fruit is one of the identities of this area, and I want people to enjoy it," said Ahmad Soffa.

Soffa said that he started a kawista sirop production business with the Sonaya brand in August 2023 with encouragement from close relatives and parents. Armed with a derivative recipe from his parents produced for personal consumption, Soffa is now able to sell up to 4,000 bottles of kawista sirop in a year, at a price of Rp. 19,000 per sirop bottle.

"Starting from production with a small portion of 10 bottles sold to relatives, until finally it increased as relatives from previous buyers asked. Alhamdulillah, now there is progress, apart from the role of resellers as well, many of Rembang's local people buy in large quantities to be used by families outside the city, especially during the Ramadan incident yesterday," said Soffa.

He added that the sirop product is made by focusing on the quality and authenticity of taste. Without using artificial preservatives, Soffa ensures that each sirop bottle is processed with the right composition. He hopes that his products can be enjoyed by the public as a form of preserving the typical Rembang fruit.

Sirop kawista Sonaya is produced without manufacturer preservatives, a suitable compositional mixing using premium sugar cane. I try to maintain the original taste of the caista after going through several recipe experiments, so that people can enjoy the authentic taste of kawista sirop," explained Soffa.

Soffa's success cannot be separated from the role of the Rembang BUMN House PT Semen Gresik. Since joining in January 2024, Soffa has experienced various benefits, including knowledge to do effective financial bookkeeping, increase turnover, and packaging design. The product is also included in the Hampers Berkah UKM Rembang program on Eid al-Fitr 1445 H.

RB Rembang helped me a lot in developing this business, from training to market support through product display at the RB Rembang workshop. Now, our products are better known and demand continues to increase. I hope, with the ongoing support of RB Rembang, more local business actors will be able to develop business potential and maintain existing local values. " added Soffa.

SIG Corporate Secretary, Vita Mahreyni said, as a state-owned company, GIS is committed to continuing to support the progress and development of MSMEs through various coaching programs, to drive the regional economy. Because for a long time, MSMEs have proven to be one of the supporters of the economy.

MSMEs play an important role in the economy because they support community empowerment in terms of eradicating social problems such as unemployment by creating jobs. We hope that, with continuous assistance, more MSMEs can develop, be competitive, independent and able to penetrate the national to global market, so that they can provide sustainable benefits for the nation and state," said Vita Mahreyni, in a written statement, Friday, September 20.

For four years, RB Rembang has assisted more than 400 MSME partners and recorded transactions worth Rp3.9 billion. Through training and assistance, RB Rembang continues to be a strategic partner for local entrepreneurs who want to develop their business, as experienced by Ahmad Soffa.