Entrepreneurship drive to be launched today
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is scheduled to launch a national entrepreneurship drive to coincide with today's celebration of Cooperatives Day.
Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya said here yesterday that the main aim of the campaign is to create as many new entrepreneurs as possible to support the rapid growth of the business sector.
"As more and more entrepreneurs enter the business sector, hopefully monopolistic and cartel-like practices will no longer exist in the country," Subiakto said.
He noted that the campaign's target groups include business people, especially those affiliated with small and medium enterprises as well as cooperatives, students, school or university drop-outs and youth groups.
Under Presidential Instruction No. 4/1995, Minister Subiakto is to coordinate the drive with 16 other ministers, the governor of Bank Indonesia (the central bank) and all 27 provincial governors.
The government has budgeted Rp 1.59 trillion (US$715 million) for the campaign until March 1999. The funds are dispersed among a number of ministries which have direct control of small businesses. The government has allocated Rp 200 billion for the campaign this fiscal year, Rp 449 billion for the next fiscal year, Rp 471 billion for 1997-98 and Rp 471.2 billion for 1998- 99.
The campaign will also be financed with some Rp 100 billion per annum, which will be collected from the contributions of state-owned companies.
Under a government regulation, state-owned companies are required to set aside up to five percent of their profits for the development of small and medium-size businesses and cooperatives.
Operation
Soeharto Prawirokusumo, chief of the research and development center at the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises, explained that the campaign would be divided into three operational phases -- institutionalization, socialization and development of entrepreneurship at targeted layers of society.
The institutionalization program will include coordination among related institutions, preparations of software, the establishment of information centers for small and medium-size enterprises and the mobilization of counselors, trainers and consultants.
Minister Subiakto acknowledged that the current business climate was not yet conducive to the development of smaller businesses. "But of course, we will improve it further."
Procedures to get business licenses and to obtain credits, for example, are still byzantine.
The minister noted that to provide better legal protection for small and medium enterprises, the government submitted a bill to the House of Representatives yesterday.
Prawirokusumo explained further that the socialization scheme would include advertising, sponsorship and publication through both print and electronic media.
He said the entrepreneurship program would include training, guidance and counseling, apprenticeships, comparative studies and the provision of cheap funds. (rid)