Baznas and Cooperatives Ministry Collaborate to Elevate Micro Enterprises

The National Alms Agency (Baznas) and the Ministry of Cooperatives are discussing potential strategic cooperation to strengthen the micro-enterprise sector, particularly for mustahik (zakat beneficiaries), through synergy with cooperative institutional programmes.

Baznas Chairman Sodik Mudjahid outlined several ongoing community economic empowerment programmes, such as Zmart, ZChicken, Baznas Microfinance Desa (BMD), and Baznas Microfinance Masjid (BMM). These initiatives are targeted for integration with the Ministry’s programmes so that assisted MSMEs can obtain legal business entity status and upgrade more easily.

“We are here to introduce Baznas’ ongoing programmes and hope that these micro initiatives can be further matured and expanded in the future,” Sodik said.

He noted that this synergy aligns with the Islamic Economic Society’s (MES) commitment to focus concretely on strengthening the real sector, including through the downstreaming of local potential to create community industrial independence and break the dominance of large corporations in the domestic market.

Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono affirmed his readiness to provide institutional strengthening through cooperatives for MSMEs assisted by Baznas, aiming to create a much stronger community economic empowerment ecosystem.

“In principle, the Ministry of Cooperatives fully supports and encourages tangible synergy between Baznas and the ministry to advance cooperatives and micro-enterprises in Indonesia,” Ferry said.

Through this integration, the Ministry of Cooperatives is committed to uniting Baznas’ economic business networks across various regions into the ministry’s cooperative system, enabling more MSMEs to upgrade and become sustainably empowered.