It has been more than one year, that Indonesia has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and is now experiencing a minus economic growth contraction. In the first quarter of 2021, Indonesia’s economic growth in the position at -0.74 percent where unemployment is estimated to increase in the range of 3-5 million people. This increase in unemployment needs to be addressed immediately through entrepreneurial empowerment activities. The Indonesian Technology Innovation Foundation (INOTEK) in collaboration with Sampoerna Untuk Indonesia continues the vision of empowering entrepreneurs and increasing competitiveness to be able to rise during this pandemic by launching the Build Back National Economy Better Program in Karawang Regency on July 15, 2021.
This launching activity is an expansion of the Build Back National Economy Better Program (BBNEB) which has been implemented in Jakarta since April 2021. BBNEB is a program of mentoring and increasing MSME business capacity which will be implemented with a different concept from the concept of programs that have been applied previously, where the average is in the form of a variety of hard skills training. The BBNEB program offers a mentoring and training program for the commercialization of products so that entrepreneurs are not only filled with workshops & product manufacturing trainings but how to make their products sellable and competitive in the market. Because we believe that a production innovation is certainly not enough just to be created but must bring business benefits and profit so that it can improve their welfare and standard of living.
INOTEK, which is fully supported by Sampoerna Untuk Indonesia (SUI), collaborates with a strategic partner, namely the Karawang Regency Government through the Cooperatives and SMEs Service to implement a comprehensive program to strengthen entrepreneurs in managing business and focus on product downstreaming through the application of 3 entrepreneurial principles, namely People, Planet and Profit.
The BBNEB launching event in Karawang Regency was held with the aim of socializing and attracting business actors so that they can optimally receive the benefits of the program through seminars and “sharing sessions”. The seminar and sharing sessions were aimed at strengthening the entrepreneurial mindset in dealing with pandemic problems, the importance of innovating and collaborating to increase competitiveness and the capacity of entrepreneurial businesses to be able to going online. This entrepreneurship seminar was filled by competent mentors in their fields, namely Mr. Indra Uno who explained the current condition of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and conveyed tips for surviving during the pandemic, followed by Mr. Addie MS who said that being an entrepreneur must have a vision and mission and love for the things that are done so that every day they are able to carry out productive activities and provide social impact. At the end of the talk session was the delivery of tips for entrepreneurs to go online delivered by Mr. Juanda Rovelim who conveyed data on the condition of the digital ecosystem and how as entrepreneurs react to it by taking part in going online and closed with the presentation of experiences by Mrs. Ismiyati from CV Global Net in provide “success stories” promoting their products online to the participants. The use of social media during the pandemic is very important in reaching a wider range of consumers so that limited promotional space can be opened at a more efficient cost.
In his brief presentation of the Build Back National Economy Better Program, Ivi Anggraeni as Executive Director of the INOTEK Foundation said that this program consists of 10 stages, namely 1. support for product downstreaming through training, mentoring and mentoring: 2. strengthening product value; 3. instilling environmental and social based business values; 4. register and open online access; 5. expand business network; 6. promote products through inotek.market; 7. registration of business legality and intellectual property; 8. Demoday; 9. open access to financing; 10. Use appropriate technology.
INOTEK and Sampoerna’s hope for Indonesia with the holding of this program is that the activities that will be carried out holistically can be the forerunner for MSMEs wherever they are to be able to advance to class through Go-Online and have a significant impact on revitalizing the economy of Karawang Regency.
