JAKARTA - Social Minister Tri Rismaharini (Risma) revealed that the National Economic Hero Program (Pena) is the government's effort to overcome poverty in Indonesia.
"This approach (economic empowerment) was duplicated and modified for a national program called Pena," said Risma in a press release received by VOI, Wednesday, April 12.
The Pena program will build the capacity of beneficiaries to create sustainable entrepreneurship or startups.
“When I started, poverty in Surabaya reached 14 percent. This step was taken as a milestone. By only embracing 86 women from suburban areas in Surabaya, we started Surabaya Economic Heroes (PE) in 2010," she said.
During that ten-year journey, she said, participants grew from 86 to 12,382 in 2020. Some groups went on to master skills and achieve new heights as millionaires and billionaires. The poverty rate dropped dramatically to 5 percent.
Similar to PE, the Pena Program was later duplicated and modified by the Ministry of Social Affairs during her leadership.
The difference between the PE and Pena programs is that the Pena program uses capital assistance that is tailored to the business or business plans of the beneficiaries.
"Last year, we started with 5,209 families and plan to further expand to 7,500 families this year," said Risma.
Pena beneficiaries are selected through a series of selection processes with certain criteria such as the productive age group and owning a startup business.
The business idea plan is then submitted to be processed for selection.
Recipients will get full benefits from Pena in the form of capital and business consulting
"All Pena beneficiaries are given access to weekly sessions with mentors who assist them in product development, digital marketing, and financial management," said Risma.
Meanwhile, the Director of the OECD Development Center, Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir, said, the OECD places Indonesia as a top priority in the development agenda.
"We realized after seeing the (Indonesian Government's) explanation of innovation in shaping entrepreneurship, is the key to increasing economic growth," she said.
BACA JUGA:
Just so you know, the OECD is an international organization of 38 countries based in Paris, France, whose mission is to shape policies that promote equality, opportunity, and prosperity for all.
The OECD partners with several countries, one of which is Indonesia. The Roundtable session discussed economic transformation in Asia, particularly the startup scene in Asia.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
