Deputy Minister for SMEs: 99% of Indonesian Businesses are Micro-Scale, Some Struggle to Scale Up

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Deputy Minister for SMEs Helvi Yuni Moraza revealed that 99% of businesses in Indonesia are small-scale. She stated that this situation indicates that a portion of businesses in Indonesia have yet to scale up. “As many as 99 percent of businesses in Indonesia are still micro-scale, showing that the majority of businesses have not yet scaled up,” she said during her speech at the Dialogue Towards the Welfare of the Young Generation event at the Ministry of National Development Planning office in Jakarta on Monday (7/4/2026). There are various obstacles hindering SMEs from scaling up. Deputy Minister Helvi mentioned that among them are the limited access of SMEs to global markets, access to working capital financing, utilisation of technology, and suboptimal standardisation of SMEs. “SME access to markets and global partnerships is still limited, as is the aspect of financing, where to date only around 30.5 percent of SMEs access bank credit. In addition, business capacity, utilisation of technology, and fulfilment of standards also need to be strengthened,” she said. SME development can be achieved through entrepreneurship development among the younger generation. According to Helvi, this requires support for strengthening a more inclusive, productive, and competitive ecosystem. If entrepreneurship among the youth is supported, not only will SMEs develop, but it will also become the foundation for the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision. “Building the entrepreneurial spirit of the Indonesian people is an important part in preparing the Foundation for Golden Indonesia 2045. The target for increasing national per capita income from around US$5,083 in 2025 to US$7,400 to US$8,240 in 2029. Up to the final target of US$23,000 to US$30,300 in 2045,” she added. Currently, SMEs play a significant role in Indonesia’s economy with a contribution of up to 61-62% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).