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)