Bappenas: Indonesia Aims to Build Competitive Female Entrepreneurs

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of National Development Planning/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (PPN/Bappenas) Rachmat Pambudy stated that Indonesia aims to build strong and competitive female entrepreneurs. “We want to build a new generation of women as the pillars of the state, namely strong and competitive female entrepreneurs, under the spirit of sustainable development,” said Rachmat Pambudy in an official statement in Jakarta on Tuesday. In line with the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of PPN/Bappenas, Universitas Padjadjaran, and Nuraa Women’s Institute to form the Women Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Unpad–Nuraa Center, the Minister of PPN hopes that this collaboration will be a strategic step to strengthen women’s economic empowerment. Through the development of a more inclusive, productive, and sustainable business ecosystem. Rachmat Pambudy emphasised that a country’s progress cannot be separated from the strength of its business world and entrepreneurs. Based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, advanced countries have at least around 10 percent entrepreneurs from the total population. Meanwhile, the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia is currently around two percent, so collective efforts are needed to increase the number of national entrepreneurs. Women’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) themselves have great potential in the national economy. Of around 56.7 million business actors in Indonesia, around 37 percent or about 21.2 million business actors are women, with the majority in micro-scale businesses. “The majority of women’s MSMEs are also still in the informal sector with relatively low business added value,” he said. “In that context, the establishment of the Women SMEs Unpad–Nuraa Center is expected to become an integrated ecosystem platform that encourages the transformation of women’s MSMEs to become more productive, competitive, innovative, and connected to broader markets,” stated the Head of Bappenas.