~Advertorial: Freeport -- April 6<\/p>\n
SMEs: Seeds that Spawn a Growing Local Economy<\/p>\n
Anastasia Tekege is currently expanding and diversifying her
\nbusiness operations to increase and stabilize her earnings. She
\ndevotes time every day to personally inspecting the progress of
\nthe operations, recording and monitoring data about her business
\nin her computer.<\/p>\n
A native Papuan, Anastasia was born in Paniai and now resides
\nin Timika, where she owns and operates a landscaping service, a
\nconstruction service, and a small, retail goods shop. A natural
\nentrepreneur with a keen business sense, she plans to soon expand
\ninto the rental market to meet the housing needs of a growing
\npopulation with increasing purchasing power.<\/p>\n
Anastasia's success is fundamentally rooted in her aptitude
\nand work ethic. However, like many others in developing
\neconomies, insufficient access to capital and a lack of business
\nskills training were impediments to realizing her aspirations of
\nbecoming a successful businesswoman in Papua.<\/p>\n
PT Freeport Indonesia's small business development program was
\nable to provide Anastasia with the tools and resources she
\nneeded. She entered the program four years ago, and today she is
\nproviding work opportunities for more than three dozen employees.<\/p>\n
As part of its commitment to communities, PT Freeport
\nIndonesia (PTFI) supports local business development because
\nlocal economic growth increases the standard of living and
\nopportunities for its neighbors. PTFI recognizes that local
\neconomic growth and entrepreneurship is critical to achieving
\nsustainable development. The process is not unlike the company's
\nreclamation programs: They plant seeds, which grow into plants
\nthat make more seeds and, ultimately, there is a thriving
\necosystem. As local businesses grow and expand, they create more
\njobs, more wages, more spending, and, finally, more revenue to
\nsupport more new enterprises -- building a local economic system
\ncapable of sustained growth and increased opportunities for
\ngenerations to come.<\/p>\n
\"Our business development programs enable the local
\ncommunities to build better lives for themselves by providing
\naccess to the necessary resources. The sense of empowerment I
\nobserve from this strategy is phenomenal,\" says Community
\nBusiness Development manager Arief Latif.<\/p>\n
The company's support for local businesses is not limited to
\nproviding capital and business skills. PT Freeport Indonesia is
\ncommitted to engaging local small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
\nby increasingly integrating them into its supply chain. The
\ncompany recognizes its value to the local economy not just as
\nemployers and sources of capital, but also as local suppliers.
\nEconomic survey data from Mimika Regency, the local governmental
\ndistrict that contains PTFI's operations, indicates that nearly
\n500 of 650 SMEs created there were directly associated with its
\noperations.<\/p>\n
The emergence of a sustainable economy in Papua Province,
\nwhich includes Mimika and 11 other regencies, is indicated in the
\nresults of a study conducted by the University of Indonesia's
\nCommissioned Institute for Economics and Social Research.<\/p>\n
The study found that PT Freeport Indonesia's share of the
\ntotal economic output of Papua Province has steadily declined
\nfrom 83 percent in 1992 to 48 percent in 2000 and is projected to
\ndecrease to 24 percent by 2010. This trend results not from
\ndecreasing economic output from PT Freeport Indonesia -- indeed,
\nthe economic impact of the company's operations has grown during
\nthis time. Rather, this trend reflects that the economic output
\nof a diversifying Papuan economy, including SMEs, is growing much
\nfaster than that of PTFI's operations.<\/p>\n
Different businesses have different needs. To meet this
\nvariety of needs, the small business development program offers a
\nnumber of services. PTFI's financial services range from grants
\nto uncollateralized micro-loans to low-interest working capital
\nfor larger enterprises. The company's business skills training
\nand capacity-building services are delivered by a dedicated staff
\nthrough a mentorship business development model.<\/p>\n
PTFI pairs each business with a staff member to encourage a
\nstrong relationship that engenders a mutual understanding of the
\nassets and challenges unique to each business. PT Freeport
\nIndonesia believes the quality of these relationships is
\nessential to the success of the SMEs that they support.<\/p>\n
PTFI's current program capacity allows them to provide full-
\ntime support and assistance to approximately 40 SMEs, a figure
\nthat varies slightly as new businesses enter and others graduate.<\/p>\n
PT Freeport Indonesia also actively seeks to develop
\npartnerships to maximize its development efforts' impact. For
\ninstance, in the past, the local market's fish supply was limited
\nbecause of the local fishermen's inability to transport their
\nfish to the local market, as they had no means to handle,
\npreserve, and process their fish properly and safely.<\/p>\n
The company collaborated with the local government to promote
\nmarket access for local fishermen, introduced appropriate fishing
\nequipment, and provided local fisherman with training in the
\n\"cold chain system\" and fish handling practices. Three years ago,
\noperations began at an ice factory and simple fish processing
\nplant. In addition, they were instrumental in having the local
\ngovernment construct a fishing dock near the processing facility.
\nAs a result, local fishermen now have a much greater opportunity
\nto market their catch.<\/p>\n
Globalized marketing and the growth of the Mimika economy
\nincreasingly attract outside entrepreneurs and products that
\ncompete with fledgling Papuan businessmen. To meet this
\nchallenge, PT Freeport Indonesia supports human capital
\ndevelopment through apprentice programs, local technical schools,
\nand higher education assistance. Encouraging the application of
\nappropriate technologies, providing business skills training, and
\nsupplying access to working capital promotes sustained local
\neconomic growth, aids the viability of existing and future SMEs,
\nand decreases the impact on local SMEs as imports increase and
\ncompanies with greater cost efficiency enter the local economy.<\/p>\n
\"We recognize that as the local economic environment evolves,
\nwe must adapt to meet its changing needs.\" says Arief Latif.
\nLooking forward, he adds, \"For the next five years, we have set
\ngoals to support the development of 10 new SMEs and 200 work
\nopportunities annually.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/advertorial-freeport-april-6-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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