Festival Rasuna to promote SMEs

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Some 180 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and 120 private businesses are expected to join the two-day Festival Rasuna 2004 at Pasar Festival, Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15.

With the theme "Developing New and Competitive Entrepreneurship", the festival is being held out of concern that SMEs are often neglected.

Organizer Indo.com and main sponsor Bakrie & Brothers staged the event in their effort to support SMEs in developing their businesses.

"Their contribution to the recovery of Indonesia's economy is enormous. I recently read in a newspaper that according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, last year's commodity exports by SMEs increased significantly to US$3.085 billion from $2.664 billion in 2002. Yet, very often, their existence is ignored," Indo.com director Eka Ginting said on Thursday.

He later brainstormed with his staff on what should be done to enhance and develop SMEs.

"We thought about the Kemang Street Festival, how it was a big success. And we said, 'why not hold another festival?' This time, it's not going to focus on crafts but more on general businesses.

"Then Bakrie & Brothers came along. They supported the idea and we agreed to hold it at Pasar Festival as it has a more accessible and strategic location," he said.

The Kemang Street Festival in South Jakarta was first held by Indo.com in 2001. Since then it takes place every June 22, the day Jakarta celebrates its anniversary.

Eka explained that there would be around 300 booths at the venue. A seminar will be held on Feb. 16, at which SMEs will be introduced to potential foreign buyers.

"We haven't set any financial targets as it is purely an attempt to help SMEs boost their opportunities to penetrate new markets. But if you ask me, from the SMEs' point of view, I think they will expect to earn Rp 10 billion (US$1.19 million) to Rp 15 billion from local or foreign visitors," he said.

Bakrie & Brothers president director Bobby Gafur S. Umar said his company was interested in sponsoring the festival as it was a positive move toward helping SMEs to find their place in the country's economy.

"Our company is committed to helping SMEs have bigger and better opportunities in terms of business, as our company once started out as an SME," said Bobby.

One of Bakrie & Brothers affiliates, Bina Mitra Bakrie Foundation (YMBM), is also participating in the event.

"Our foundation helps SMEs develop their skills in doing business, how to write a proposal, how to deal with export systems, how to ask for a loan from a bank, things like that. It's as though we're giving them the bait instead of the fish," said YMBM head Hisyam Sulaiman.

He added that usually YBMB would hold a recruitment drive for SMEs six times a year, each involving around 30 SMEs, at a training cost of around Rp 1 million per SME.

"Then, after they complete the training and become qualified, we'd look and see if their business matched ours. If it did, they'd become our business partners. If it didn't, then we'd bring in foreign partners to buy their products. Thus, it would be a win-win situation," he explained.

To date, Hisyam told The Jakarta Post, YBMB had approximately 10,000 SMEs throughout the country working in partnership with Bakrie & Brothers.