Contributing More Than IDR 1,100 Trillion, Creative Industry Must Still Be Intensified

Director General of Small, Medium and Miscellaneous Industry (IKMA) of the Ministry of Industry, Gati Wibawaningsih. (Photo: Ministry of Industry)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Industry is aggressively developing creative industry players to play a role in encouraging national economic growth and creating social welfare. This strategic step is carried out through various programs involving various related parties.

"For example, what we are doing is collaborating with the Banjarmasin City Government at the Banjarmasin Sasirangan Festival 2020 to hold creative talk activities," said the Director General of Small, Medium and Miscellaneous Industries (IKMA) of the Ministry of Industry, Gati Wibawaningsih in Jakarta, Monday, March 9.

According to the Director General of IKMA, in the creative discussion, the majority was attended by Sasirangan craftsmen from various backgrounds, including the millennial generation. Participants were quite enthusiastic about listening to the presentation of competent speakers.

"The speakers include the Founder and CEO of Adorable Project, Fajar Nugraha, then there is the Du Anyam Project Manager, Davit Manalu, as well as the Founder and CEO of Tuhlabu Sasirangan, Emed," he said.

The Directorate General of IKMA of the Ministry of Industry also invited the Prasetiya Mulya University Business Venturing and Development Institute (BVDI) team.

"We have a Creative Business Incubator program, in collaboration with BVDI Prasetiya Mulya. This program is implemented through the main tasks and functions of the work unit under us, namely the Bali Creative Industry Center (BCIC), ”he explained.

Gati said, Founder Tuhlabu Sasirangan is an alumni of the BCIC Creative Business Incubator tenants from 2018-2019. Emed managed to get an award as Winner of the Sasirangan Fabric Design and Motive Contest and Coloring at the South Kalimantan Province level in 2019.

Gati believes, through this program, beginner creative industry players in the fields of craft and fashion will be provided with training and assistance to develop their business (scaling-up) so that they can be more competitive, both domestically and globally. This is in line with the government's determination to create new industrial entrepreneurs, particularly the small and medium industrial sector (IKM).

"This is because the number of young creative economy entrepreneurs who are under 30 years old is still around 10.68 percent of the total creative economy entrepreneurs who reach 8.2 million people. Therefore, through the momentum of the demographic bonus that Indonesia will enjoy in 2030, where the proportion of productive age will reach more than 88 million people, it is an opportunity to foster young entrepreneurs, "he said.

Moreover, the creative economy provides a major contribution to the national economy. This achievement was seen in 2016 which contributed up to IDR922.59 trillion, and increased to IDR1.102 trillion throughout 2018. This means that in three years the value was able to increase by 19.45 percent.

The three creative industry sub-sectors that have the largest contribution, namely the culinary industry (41.69 percent), the fashion industry (18.15 percent) and the craft industry (15.70 percent).

"Therefore, one of our goals is to grow Sasirangan's typical fabric craftsmen in Banjarmasin, who in recent years have been directed by the City Government to use environmentally friendly natural dyes," said Gati.