Baznas Strengthens MSME Empowerment Programme for Mustahik
The National Board of Zakat (Baznas) is exploring a collaboration with the Sabana Foundation to strengthen the ecosystem of the ZChicken MSME empowerment programme through enhanced branding, business mentoring, and the development of a data-based monitoring system. This synergy was discussed during a meeting held at the Baznas RI Office in Jakarta, as a step towards increasing the effectiveness and sustainability of economic empowerment programmes for mustahik (zakat recipients).
The planned collaboration includes refining operational aspects, strengthening brand identity, improving the quality of mentoring, and implementing a more integrated monitoring system utilising information technology.
The Chairman of Baznas RI, Sodik Mudjahim, emphasised that strengthening the system is a crucial factor to ensure that businesses distributed to mustahik do not cease mid-way but are able to develop sustainably.
“Through this strengthening, we hope the programme does not stop or lose its benefits, but rather continues to grow and provide a larger economic impact for the beneficiaries,” said Sodik.
He assessed that this cooperation serves as a momentum to modernise the management of empowerment programmes while ensuring that businesses run by mustahik have better growth prospects. According to him, investment in higher-quality mentoring systems remains necessary as long as it can guarantee the business continuity of the beneficiaries.
“The most important thing is how this programme achieves sustainability. If additional investment is required to ensure businesses continue to run, that must certainly be considered rationally,” he added.
As a follow-up, Baznas and the Sabana Foundation have agreed to task their respective technical teams with drafting a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a Cooperation Agreement (PKS) as the basis for implementing the collaboration.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Sabana Foundation, M. Haden Aulia H., outlined several development plans, ranging from branding enhancement and intensive business mentoring to the digitalisation of the supply chain to increase the competitiveness of ZChicken.
Sabana also proposed the use of information technology systems that allow for real-time monitoring of daily turnover, enabling business progress to be monitored directly from the centre while supporting product quality standardisation.
“We want to encourage the scaling up of businesses through strengthened design, branding, mentoring, and monitoring based on information technology. With an integrated system, sales progress can be monitored every day, making the coaching process more effective,” said Haden.
This collaboration is expected to strengthen the model of zakat-based economic empowerment by combining business mentoring, digital innovation, and more measurable management, so that mentored MSMEs can grow more independently and sustainably.