HNI Holds Social Festival Involving MSMEs
The 14th anniversary of HNI was marked by various activities combining social activities, religious education, family entertainment, and MSME empowerment. The series of events was packaged in the HNI Festival held at HNI Plaza, Kalimalang, East Jakarta, on Sunday (23/8).
HNI Marketing Director Amir Hamzah said the festival was the second part of the 14th anniversary celebration series with the theme ‘Beyond 14: Building the Future Together’. ‘Today we are holding the second series of our anniversary commemoration, namely the HNI Festival. The event is filled with various activities that started at 06.00 WIB,’ said Amir.
Activities since the morning began with Senam Nusantara and Senam Beyond 14 HNI. The area around the building was then filled with exhibitions and a bazaar involving a number of MSME players. Activities for families were also prepared on the second floor of the HNI Plaza Building. Visitors could take part in various games and activities aimed at children.
Meanwhile, the religious agenda took place in the ballroom area through the Islamic Sharing programme. The study was held in three sessions from morning until just before Maghrib. In addition to public and educational activities, the festival also included social activities in the form of providing assistance and compensation to orphans. The implementation was carried out together with PermataBank Syariah.
Amir said the distribution of compensation was not only carried out in Jakarta. In the context of the 14th anniversary, assistance was also distributed gradually through the Business Centre network in various regions of Indonesia. ‘Through this series of activities, HNI seeks to strengthen the halal business ecosystem while providing social impact for communities in various regions,’ he said.
HNI President Commissioner H. Muslim M. Yatim said the company wants to expand the reach of halal products so that they can be accessed more widely by the public. According to him, there are still large opportunities in the halal market that have not been fully reached. He emphasised that activities and business development are not only aimed at people already in the internal network. Currently, the number of active members with membership cards is said to have reached around 5 million people.
‘HNI does not close itself off only to its leaders. Although we are grateful that today there are approximately 5 million people who have membership cards or are our members, we are trying to open up to the Indonesian public in general,’ said Muslim.
Muslim said the expansion of reach is primarily directed so that the public has easier access to halal products. He sees that market opportunities in the sector are still wide open, given the very large Muslim population of Indonesia. Based on internal estimates, only about 10% of Indonesia’s Muslim population has entered the reach of their ecosystem. This means that around 90% is still considered not optimally reached.
The festival was also used to encourage transactions among MSMEs. The organiser provided shopping vouchers worth Rp50,000 to the public that could be used to shop at participating MSME stalls. The scheme allowed visitors to obtain a voucher of the same value after making a payment of Rp50,000. Thus, the public could shop at MSME stalls without bearing additional costs beyond the voucher value.
‘Today they shop, we give them a Rp50,000 voucher. They pay Rp50,000, but we return it in the form of a Rp50,000 voucher, so actually they don’t pay. Please shop at MSMEs, so that MSMEs also feel our presence,’ said Muslim.