2026 Micro Business Ease and Protection Festival Expands Access and Strengthens MSME Competitiveness
The Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (UMKM) continues to strengthen its commitment to building a safe, inclusive, and conducive business ecosystem for MSME entrepreneurs so they can grow, become competitive, and move up a class. This effort is realised through the strengthening of business legality, quality certification, business and product protection, as well as the expansion of integrated financing access via the Festival Kemudahan dan Pelindungan Usaha Mikro (Micro Business Ease and Protection Festival).
MSME Minister Maman Abdurrahman affirmed that the government continues to provide various forms of assistance so that MSME entrepreneurs can develop sustainably. This assistance includes ease of licensing, certification, financing access, and business capacity strengthening, all packaged in one integrated service through the Festival Kemudahan dan Pelindungan Usaha Mikro.
“We strive to provide the best possible service in the context of granting permits, business assistance, certification, and financing access, both KUR and non-KUR. We package all these services in the Festival Kemudahan dan Pelindungan Usaha Mikro,” said MSME Minister Maman Abdurrahman after delivering remarks at the festival in Balikpapan on Wednesday (17/6/2026).
Maman explained that this step is crucial given that the level of business legality among MSMEs is still relatively low. Currently, around 77 per cent of MSMEs in Indonesia do not yet have business legality and are still operating informally. To address this challenge, the Ministry of MSMEs is strengthening collaboration with various stakeholders, ranging from ministries and agencies, regional governments, the banking sector, to the business world.
This synergy is directed at accelerating the transformation and formalisation of micro businesses so that more MSME entrepreneurs obtain legal certainty, business protection, and access to various empowerment programmes. Through these efforts, the government hopes that protection for MSME entrepreneurs will become stronger while also being able to drive regional economic growth more inclusively and sustainably.
“Because we realise that when MSMEs grow and gain massive and optimal access to licensing and financing, the wheels of the regional economy will also turn,” said Maman.
In line with this, East Kalimantan Governor Rudy Mas’ud assessed that the challenges MSMEs will face in the future are increasingly complex, requiring stronger synergy from all stakeholders to push MSMEs to the next level. “Therefore, we must continue to encourage MSMEs to move up a class. From businesses that do not yet have legality to legal businesses, from traditional businesses to those utilising digital technology, and from businesses that merely survive to those capable of growing and being competitive,” said Rudy Mas’ud.
He also invited all stakeholders, including district and city governments in East Kalimantan, to continue presenting policies that favour MSME entrepreneurs as the main drivers of the regional economy. “How can our MSMEs quickly move up a class so that the regional economy becomes stronger, unemployment decreases, and the welfare of the community, God willing, increases,” said Rudy Mas’ud.
The 2026 Festival Kemudahan dan Pelindungan Usaha Mikro is being held again in 10 locations across Indonesia, involving around 1,000 micro entrepreneurs. Balikpapan is the first city to kick off this year’s festival series as part of the government’s effort to strengthen a resilient, competitive micro business ecosystem capable of becoming a pillar of national economic growth.