Progress of SMEs gains more attention
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Country Service Framework for Indonesia the government signed with the Vienna-based United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) late November seemed to have heightened the momentum for the empowerment of small and medium- scale enterprises (SMEs).
The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs organized last week a high-powered mission of the country's 10 largest banks to visit small and medium-scale industries in Yogyakarta to get first-hand information on their problems and business prospects.
Yogyakarta was also the site model of SME development that was visited by UNIDO Director General Carlos Alfredo Magarinos after he and Minister of Industry and Trade Rini Soewandi signed an agreement in Jakarta.
"The banker mission included the chief executive officers of the largest banks such as Bank Mandiri, Bank BNI, Bank BCA, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Permata, Bank Danamon, Bank International Indonesia and Bank Niaga," said Tony Agus Ardie, a businessman who is developing a cluster of shrimp farming enterprises in Yogyakarta.
Even though the banker mission has yet to be followed by a concrete lending package for SMEs, the visit by so many CEOs of the country's largest banks with so focused an agenda meant a lot to maintain the momentum for the empowerment of SMEs, Tony, chairman of the Indokor business group, added.
Tony, who organized the UNIDO mission to Yogyakarta in late November, saw the bankers' visit as even more meaningful to SME development because Syafruddin Tumenggung, chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), also joined the delegation.
"Since IBRA had taken over thousands of SME debts from closed and nationalized banks the agency needs to know how important these small and medium-size businesses are to our economy," he said on Friday.
IBRA is reported to have taken over 421,344 SME debts totaling almost Rp 30 trillion (US$3.3 billion), of which 90 percent have been disposed of and the remaining 10 percent are being worked out.
Tony was speaking at a farewell dinner for UNIDO chief representative Syed Asif Hasnain who will leave soon after seven years in Indonesia to take up a new assignment at UNIDO headquarters in Vienna.
The party was also attended by Austrian Ambassador Bernhard Zimburg, Swiss Ambassador Georges Martin and former trade minister Arifin Siregar and former president of Pertamina A.R. Ramly.
Tony said Hasnain would continue to work on Indonesian SME development projects to follow up the visit and the country service network UNIDO chief Magarinos signed in Jakarta in November.
"This will enable us to optimize the technical assistance, expertise, information and other resources offered by UNIDO, which has experience in helping empower SMEs in numerous developing countries," added Tony.
As UNIDO's primary tasks are to promote industrial development, notably SMEs, in developing countries and enhance industrial cooperation at the global, regional and national levels, Indonesia can benefit greatly from the resources the organization has and the experiences and expertise it has built up, according to Tony.
Swiss Ambassador Martin noted that even in developed countries such as Switzerland SMEs play a very important role in generating jobs and are well known for their flexibility, creativity and high rate of survivability in difficult economic conditions like Indonesia now sees.
"As most big companies become increasingly globalized in operations and ownership, SMEs are sometimes the only truly national assets and the economic and social fabric of a nation," Martin added.
Austrian Ambassador Zimburg shared Martin's view but suggested that big businesses and SMEs develop together as big companies are able to allocate adequate resources for research and development that is vital to economic growth and competitiveness.