Smesco Indonesia Increases Women's MSME Capacity In Dolly East Java

Smesco Indonesia seeks to increase the capacity and competence of female MSMEs in Dolly Village, East Java. (Photo: Doc. Kemenkop UKM)

JAKARTA - Smesco Indonesia is trying to increase the capacity and competence of female MSMEs in Dolly Village, East Java, to support the region's vision as a sustainable economic center and future MSMEs.

"The main strategy in the program to improve life skills for women's MSME groups in Dolly is to explore as they vision for Dolly in the future," said Smesco Indonesia Business and Marketing Director Wientor Rah Mada in a written statement received by VOI, Friday, June 23.

Wientor said that Dolly Village in her history was considered the center of the highest concentration of prostitution in Southeast Asia before the government finally carried out control and closure in 2014.

The government's decision to close the prostitution industry in Dolly was mainly due to the consideration of the reality of human trafficking practices, exploitation of women and minors, and the complexity of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The closure also aims to save the next generation with the best achievement of education for local children.

But on the other hand, the impact of the local economy was affected by the closure because many local residents depend on this derivative industry as their main source of income. Many of Putat Jaya's residents lost their jobs and 18 percent of them still live below the poverty line.

Therefore, Smesco Indonesia and the British Embassy in Indonesia collaborate to develop Future Cities in Dolly, Putat Jaya District, Surabaya, which focuses on a sustainable future MSME development strategy.

"The hope is, of course, that sustainable and inclusive development that involves all elements of society, as has been done in this program, can be implemented more broadly in Indonesia," said Wientor.

Meanwhile, the Future City Manager Program, the British Embassy for Indonesia, Barikatul Hikmah, revealed that the collaboration between the British Embassy for Indonesia and Smesco Indonesia includes three strategies.

First, making Dolly a business village innovation area based on e-learning and capacity building for business, including for female MSMEs and disability groups.

"Second, as a replication of the business hub in Bali, in accordance with the G20 destination. Third, scaling up business villages together with 120 other villages that are members of the Kampung Nusantara Association," said Barikatul Hikmah.

Barikatul Hikmah said that one of the local collaborative strategies that had been carried out in increasing MSME income in Dolly Village was CSR with five-star hotels in East Java, through recycling bed sheets of bed sheets and blankets into employee uniforms.

"The still good waste in this condition is recycled and attributed by MSMEs in Dolly, the results are then ordered as uniforms for the five-star hotel employees. In addition, the hotel also ordered snacks and traditional dishes for their events from Dolly MSMEs," he concluded.