High school graduate Maryanto pedals to foreign market

Kanis Dursin, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Forty-five-year-old Maryanto smiled broadly as he welcomed visitors coming to take a look at miniature bicycles and pedicabs on display at his house-cum-workshop on the outskirts of Yogyakarta.

"We are now producing a total of 50 bicycles and rickshaws a week," said senior high school graduate Maryanto, proudly showing a selection of his miniatures of antique bicycles and pedicabs to his curious guests.

Up until one-and-a-half years ago, Maryanto exclusively produced brass figurines, with monthly total sales ranging from Rp 5 million (US$560) to Rp 10 million, and monthly net profit averaging Rp 2 million.

Now, however, Maryanto, the father of two sons and one daughter, has started producing the transport miniatures, boosting his monthly sales to around Rp 20 million during the low season and some Rp 30 million during the high season --- Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year's holidays.

His net profit has also increased to between Rp 5 million and Rp 6 million per month.

"Thank God we got a micro credit from Bank Mandiri," said Maryanto, one of hundreds of recipients of state-owned Bank Mandiri's micro credits.

According to Wahyudin, public relations manager of Mandiri Yogyakarta, the publicly listed bank also offers loans to small- scale business people involved in wood carving, furniture and batik painting, as well as handicrafts in Yogyakarta.

The loans carry various low-interest rates. Loans worth Rp 10 million or below have interest rates of 6 percent; loans between Rp 10 million and Rp 30 million, 8 percent; and loans worth between Rp 30 million and Rp 50 million, 10 percent.

"Bank Mandiri usually gives training on financial accounting to loan recipients and monitors their business activities," Wahyudin said.

In 2004, Maryanto and his junior high school graduate wife, Tukirah, participated in a handicraft exhibition at the Yogyakarta Exhibition Center selling brass figurines.

"Bank Mandiri approached us and offered us a loan," Maryanto told The Jakarta Post recently.

While he and his wife showed great eagerness to obtain the much-needed working capital, Bank Mandiri, said Maryanto, did not disburse the loan until one-and-a-half years ago.

"We had to surrender a land certificate as collateral," he said.

The long wait proved to be worthwhile for Maryanto. Soon after he secured the Rp 10 million loan from Bank Mandiri in early 2003, Maryanto expanded his business, increasing the number of employees to six, and expanding his product line.

His profit also continued to swell as bulk orders came in from souvenir shops, department stores and galleries -- both in Yogyakarta and Jakarta. The process has not been problem-free though. According to Tukirah, customers often approach him with their own designs. "Many customers bring their own designs along, but we cannot always accommodate them," he said.

However, Bank Mandiri has helped Maryanto and his wife make master designs of orders placed by their customers.

Tukirah said that their success had inspired others to enter into the same business. "We are facing even stiffer competition, but now we have already prepared our own designs, just in case," she said.

The strong demand for bicycle and pedicab miniatures enabled Maryanto to repay the loan in full, on time. "I was able to repay the loan in one year," he said.

Straight after repaying the loan more than six months ago, Maryanto and Tukirah took out another loan worth Rp 20 million from Bank Mandiri.

"We pledged to repay the loan in three years," said Maryanto, adding that he had also increased the number of employees to nine.

The couple are now wondering how to market their products further afield. "I want to learn how to market our products overseas," Maryanto said.

However, Mandiri, which claims to be the country's biggest bank in terms of assets and credit volume, can only provide funds to businesspeople of small enterprises, but not marketing expertise.

Four months ago, Maryanto joined a group of businesspeople at an exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During the exhibition, Maryanto inked an agreement with a Malaysian businessman, under which the latter would act as the sole agent of his products in the neighboring country.

Since then, Maryanto has been sending 100 bicycles worth Rp 6.5 million monthly to Malaysia, and according to his Malaysian partner, sales of the little bicycles have increased steadily.

Both Maryanto and Tukirah hope that, through their business, their children can escape the "abject poverty" that deprived their parents of a higher education.

"We want our children to continue with their studies wherever they want to. We are ready to support them," Tukirah said.

However, their eldest son, twenty-one, shows little interest in going to university. A senior high school graduate, he is now helping his parents run their business.