The Minister Of Cooperatives And Small Medium Enterprises (UKM) Teten Invites To Optimize Regional Potentials For Integrated Business Ecosystems

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki (ANTARA / Humas Kemenkop)

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki invites all elements to transform cooperatives and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) into the value chain.

According to Teten, one of the regions that has great economic potential for cooperatives and micro, small and medium enterprises (KUMKM) is Tulang Bawang Regency, Lampung.

The area, said Teten, has superior commodities in the agricultural and plantation sectors such as rubber, oil palm, rice and corn, which have become regional icons and can be optimized to improve the regional economy and the welfare of the community.

"MSMEs are encouraged to be integrated from upstream to downstream in the business ecosystem and connected with national and even global industrial supply chains. That is one of our focuses in the future," said Teten in a written statement received by VOI, Saturday, December 19.

According to him, the transformation of KUMKM will increase the participation ratio of the global supply chain of Indonesian SMEs, which is currently still low, around 4.1 percent.

Teten said, UMKM transformation can be done through the corporatization of farmers or fishermen. They are assembled in the economic circuit through cooperative institutions.

"Small scale farmers can join cooperatives, integrated upstream to downstream from financing to market access, involving related Ministries / Agencies, BUMN, and BUMD so that they can meet economies of scale and farmers / fishermen are more prosperous," he explained. .

Durability of KUMKM

Teten also emphasized the importance of strengthening the resilience of cooperatives and MSMEs in the midst of a pandemic like now. Because, this is where most of the Indonesian business actors and workers are absorbed.

One way to do this is by providing various stimuli, both for those who are bankable (through restructuring programs and tax incentives) and non-bankable through the Productive Banpres for Micro Enterprises to 12 million people.

In addition, KUR Super Mikro with an additional 6 percent KUR interest subsidy. KUR interest on loans under IDR 10 million becomes 0 percent until December 2020.

"Another effort is to increase the capacity of our MSMEs to adapt to new norms," he said.

He also encourages MSMEs to enter the digital ecosystem. This is because the trend of the digital economy during the pandemic grew positively with 38 percent of new internet users, 93 percent of consumers still using digital after the pandemic, and the average online time per day was 4.3 to 4.7 hours per person based on data from Google, Temasek, and Bain Research.

To encourage UMKM business activities, the government increases government, regional, and BUMN spending for MSME and cooperative products.

"Where 40 percent of government spending is allocated to absorb UMKM products through the UMKM and Procurement Defense Pages, as well as BUMN Spending," explained Teten.