Matahari to cooperate with 1,000 small firms
Matahari to cooperate with 1,000 small firms
JAKARTA (JP): PT Matahari Putra Prima, one of the country's
major retail chains, said yesterday it would have established
partnerships with 1,000 small entrepreneurs in Java soon.
Eddy Soegiantoro, the head of Matahari's partnership program,
said the publicly listed retail chain, which had partnerships
with about 500 small companies, would recruit other 500 this
week.
He said that Matahari, which operates 180 stores in 23 cities,
would hold meetings with small business owners in Solo (Central
Java), Sidoarjo (East Java), Cirebon (West Java), and -- for
Greater Jakarta -- Tangerang (West Java) to find appropriate
partners.
"We intend to raise the revenue of the 1,000 small businesses
to at least Rp 100 billion (about US$41 million) with their
partnership with us," Eddy, who is also the company's operational
director, said.
The partners will either supply their products, mainly
clothing or food, for the department stores and supermarkets, or
sell food in the stores' food courts.
Food stalls would be rented out at a discounted price, Eddy
said.
He said the company planned to run training programs for its
partners soon, to improve the quality of their businesses and
products.
The training program will be divided into five phases, each
for 100 participants. The first phase will be in Jakarta next
week, and the rest in the Java's other four cities.
The entrepreneurs would be trained in financial management and
given the latest information related to their products, he said.
The company would also provide cooking equipment for the food
sellers in the food court, he said.
"We will spend about Rp 20 million on cooking equipment for
about 90 food stalls," he said.
He said Matahari would spend at least Rp 100 million on the
training programs.
The small partners would be expected to contribute five
percent of their revenue to the company, he said.
In the early 1990's, President Soeharto called on large
companies to help small entrepreneurs through partnership
programs.
Soeharto said the partnership must be profitable for both
parties.
Eddy said he was sure the partnerships would boost the small
businesses.
"Some of our current major suppliers, such as Hammer clothes
lines, were small companies when they began cooperating with us,"
he said.
"This kind of partnership is not new to us," he said.
He said Matahari benefited from the partnerships by
determining the price range of the products sold to them by the
partners. (das)