Feasibility studies key to small company's progress
Feasibility studies key to small company's progress
JAKARTA (JP): Manpower Ministry and state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia started yesterday a one week-course on entrepreneurship feasibility for small and medium-scale businesspeople to help them obtain collateral free loans.
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief at the opening ceremony in his office yesterday said that the program is meant to help the entrepreneurs correctly produce a feasibility study on their businesses.
A feasibility study is the deciding factor in which banks determine whether or not to extend a government loan to a company, Latief told the 140 participants.
Latief said that small and medium-scale entrepreneurs are eligible for Rp 50 million collateral free capital loans. Many such entrepreneurs have not obtained credit due to being unaware of how to properly apply.
"The weakness of our small-scale entrepreneurs lies in how they make feasibility studies of their businesses in their proposals when applying for credit," Latief said.
Latief said he was optimistic that the training would work, citing that some time ago 80 percent of West Sumatra's small and medium-scale businesspeople obtained loans after such a course.
Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto, who opened the course yesterday, said that the government strongly encourages small and medium-scale enterprises to improve their businesses in the hope that they would be able to compete in the ASEAN free market which will start in 2003.
"We realize that the products of small and medium-scale companies are in fact very competitive," Hartarto told the participants.
He said he hoped the training would help the participants understand which products were competitive and therefore make good proposals, enabling them to secure credit.
"The government is trying to expand the program to the regions and provide more funds for small and medium-scale businesspeople," Hartarto said.
Head of the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Manpower, Freddy Tuamelly, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the participants were selected from among 200 applicants from the capital city.
The selection was organized in cooperation with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said.
He said the selected participants are from the food, garment, handicrafts, general trade and health care industries, as well as service sectors, transportation agencies and publications.
"Participants are mostly from the industrial sector and service companies such as maid and baby sitter agencies," Tuamelly said. (03)