Jakarta, 6 July 2020 --- In the midst of Covid-19 outbreak that still continues to hit the world including Indonesia, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) prove themselves to be resilient businesses, even becomes savior of the family economy.
The Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki said, during Covid-19 pandemic, wives appeared as saviors of the family economy with various types of businesses they did at home. Teten gave an example, there was a dentist who could not practice until the loss of income was helped by the donut business that his wife had started before Covid-19 became epidemic.
"When Covid-19 occured, his wife's business developed, and they sold through social media, that's one example of how women are actually taking over." said Teten in Taslkshow, BNI's 74th Anniversary, with the theme "Uniting Energy for Indonesia in the Newormal Era", last Sunday, (5/7/2020).
At present, continued Teten, the general economic trend is actually moving towards the domestic economy where the role of housewives as mompreneurs is increasingly dominant. The development of digital technology now provides equal opportunities for mompreneurs to be able to compete in the business world.
In that occasion, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs also also thanked bank BNI who had been helping a lot for empowering MSMEs. According to him, 99% of these businesses in Indonesia are MSMEs and most are women or mothers.
"Well, I think that BNI’s commitment to continue to assist in developing this MSMEs business is appropriate and they need to be facilitated to access BNI financing. Furthermore, BNI also needs to develop incubation programs to develop the seeds of entrepreneurs who grow in the community," he said.
In the meantime, Tambok P. Setyawati, the Director of Micro, Small, and Middle Enterprises (MSMEs) of PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. said, this year, the growth in the number of BNI’s MSME debtors reached 32%. In 2015 the number of MSME debtors was only 97 thousand and reached 280,000 by June 2020.
“What's interesting is that the composition between female and male MSME entrepreneur debtors in BNI continues to grow, from 20% previously, to 50% now," Tambok said.
According to her, women’s role in business world especially MSME continues to increase. Although in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic, mothers continue to carry out their business activities from home while looking after their children and taking care of their health to help and support the family's needs.
Tambok conveyed, BNI is committed to building a strong MSME with the government by not only financing MSMEs but also providing assistance. "The financing is completely gradual in accordance with a customer’s development. So, if a new customer is still not feasible, we can do financing that is really mild through the CSR program," he said.
Currently there are around 62 million MSME units that employ around 116,000,000 people. That means, more than 80% of the role of Indonesian workers is in the MSME sector. During Covid-19 between March - May, BNI focused on helping debtors by providing interest payment relief so that they could survive.
On the same occasion, a musician who is also a beauty entrepreneur, Maia Estianty claimed to have felt the bitterness of pioneering online business. According to her, the low interest credit scheme for MSMEs such as those offered by BNI is a program that is awaited by businesses. "Thanks to BNI because with the help of EDC (electronic data capture), my business can develop rapidly," she said.
According to her, an online business is a very new and promising business especially with her millions of followers. The woman who is familiarly called Bunda Maia said, during this pandemic the Skin Care business that she started in 2015 was unaffected, in terms of turnover. "What matters is that employees who enter the house are regulated in shifts, only one person can enter the house," she said.
In terms of the profit, Bunda Maia admitted that online business through social media is very profitable, it can even support the cost of her life and children. Therefore, she suggested that they follow in her footsteps.
"I said to my children, when you become a musician, don't just be a musician. It’s better if you can do business too, especially when you have a huge social media platform. It's too bad if you have a large market and do nothing about it," she said.
For more information, please contact:
Corporate Secretary BNI
Phone: 021-5728387
Email: bni@bni.co.id