Govt preparing draft bill on small businesses

Govt preparing draft bill on small businesses

JAKARTA (JP): The government has begun formulating a bill on
small enterprises to provide them with a legal basis for
development, in response to environmental changes and the trend
of globalization, a minister says.

Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto
Tjakrawerdaya said here yesterday that a legal framework, besides
improved human resources and a conducive economic environment,
was a prerequisite for the development of small and medium-scale
enterprises (SMEs).

Speaking on the second day of the 21th International Small
Business Congress (ISBC), the minister said that the draft bill
will be submitted to the House of Representatives (DPR) for
deliberation within a few months.

He said that, as human resources are one of crucial weaknesses
faced by SMEs, their improvement was unavoidable.

"Some aspects of this strategy, therefore, are improvements of
entrepreneurship, managerial skills and outlook on business
environment," Subiakto told the three-day congress attended by
over 700 participants from 38 countries.

Besides Subiakto, speaking on the second day of the three-day
congress was Raymond W.Y. Kao of Singapore, Bruce A. Krichhoff of
the United States, Ken O'neill of North Ireland, Vessa Routama of
Finland and Nobuhiro Kurose of Japan.

Subiakto noted that the strategy for developing SMEs will not
be sufficient without creating conducive environment that
provides better opportunities for them to grow bigger, stronger
and self-reliant.

"In this connection, the government has been promoting
business partnerships between small, medium and large
enterprises. The large entities are later called upon to sell
some portion of their shares to small companies and cooperatives.

Subiakto told newsmen after the congress that eight
conglomerates, all of which are listed on the Jakarta Stock
Exchange, will soon sell 3.5 million shares to 38 cooperatives.

Meanwhile, Businessman Fadel Muhammad said the participation
of large entities in the improvement of small and medium
companies should still be encouraged.

"I myself understand the importance of large entities in
helping small and medium sized enterprises. You know, I started
from a small business then became a medium one and now I'm a bit
bigger," Fadel told The Jakarta Post.(rid)