PNM partners with Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection to strengthen women's economy in NTT

Jakarta (ANTARA) - PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) is partnering with the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (Kemen PPPA) to strengthen women’s economy in Ngada Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), through the development of business clustering based on local potential. In Ngada, the nutmeg commodity is considered to have significant opportunities for development into value-added products. To date, most of the community’s harvest has been sold in raw form at relatively limited prices. “Women play an important role in driving family and community economies. We want to encourage women in the regions to have broader opportunities for development by utilising the local potential they possess, including the nutmeg commodity in Ngada,” said PNM’s President Director, Kindaris, quoted from a written statement on Wednesday. “Through various mentoring and business cluster development programmes, we hope that local potential in various regions can become a new source of economic growth that directly impacts community welfare,” he continued. Through clustering development, the community is not only encouraged to produce products but also to build a sustainable business ecosystem from cultivation, processing, to marketing. With this programme, ultra-micro women entrepreneurs receive mentoring starting from business capacity strengthening, nutmeg processing, product packaging, to gaining market access. This mentoring is expected to help the community improve product quality while expanding opportunities for sustainable business. The development of nutmeg clustering also serves as a space for social empowerment for village women, while it is hoped to support government programmes through the One Village One Product (OVOP) concept, namely village economic development based on superior local potential with added value and competitiveness. This collaboration between PNM and Kemen PPPA is also an effort to encourage Indonesian women to become increasingly economically independent, while still utilising the natural wealth and local wisdom in their respective regions.