Red tape, discrimination a constraint for businesswomen

Red tape, discrimination a constraint for businesswomen

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For Moudy Lintuuran, expanding her rubber supply business was not
easy. Trying to obtain a bank loan last year, she had to deal
with a maze of bureaucracy and discriminative treatment.

"When I stepped into a bank (providing loans for small- and
medium-sized enterprises), as recommended by a fellow
businesswomen, it felt as if I was in the forest," she told The
Jakarta Post.

"It was the first time I applied for a loan from a bank. I
needed about Rp 500 million (US$53,763)."

To get the loan, she offered her Rp 700 million house as
collateral.

However, she said, when it came to the actual process of
applying for the loan, she had to follow a long-chain of
bureaucratic procedures.

She needed to present a business plan to the bank and legalize
the business permit at the notary office.

"Then I found out that the amount that I requested was not
approved. In fact, the bank could grant no more than Rp 500
million loans," Moudy said.

Finally, the bank approved a loan of Rp 300 million.

She said it took her two weeks to arrange all the paperwork
and get the money.

Moudy, who is the general secretary at the Jakarta branch of
the Indonesian Businesswomen's Association (IWAPI), could
consider herself lucky for just getting a loan at all.

IWAPI chairwoman Suryani Motik said many of her members were
facing problems in accessing credit from financial institutions
for SMEs due to existing misconceptions.

"These misconceptions and our paternalistic culture put women
who are income earners in second place," she said on Wednesday
during a workshop held by IWAPI in conjunction with program for
eastern Indonesia for SME assistance (PENSA) -- an affiliate of
the World Bank's private arm, the International Finance
Corporation (IFC).

Furthermore, Suryani explained, Indonesian wives could not get
their own tax numbers (NPWP) since Article 8 of Law No. 17/2000
on income tax stipulated that married women were prohibited from
getting loans independent of their husbands.

However, women were good potential clients of financial
institutions. According to a survey conducted by IWAPI and the
International Labor Organization (ILO), 87 percent of SMEs
respondents in Jakarta were women -- the main earners in the
family with a loan recovery rate of 97 percent.

IWAPI and IFC-Pensa had already signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) for a year to train women entrepreneurs.

The agreement emphasized capacity building, public relations
and technical assistance, including conducting evaluations.

"Improving access to finance through technical assistance is
part of the core-competence of IFC," IFC-Pensa program manager
Hans Shrader said.

Bido said IFC-Pensa would provide training and technical
assistance for IWAPI members about how to obtain loans, manage
family businesses and deal with taxation.

Suryani expected the joint effort would yield positive
results. "We hope we will be able to determine what the problems
are," she said.

IWAPI and IFC-Pensa plan to issue a Voice of Women
Entrepreneurship magazine in the future targetting bankers and
other business executives and also plans to form a business
development service.

Meanwhile, a bank executive, who spoke during the workshop,
said his bank did not discriminate against customers based on
gender.

"We'd rather prioritize the business-worthiness of our
customers," said Bank Bukopin business manager Suherly.

He said that requirements in applying loans for SMEs were the
same for everyone. Bukopin put no limit on loans to SMEs, he
said.

Suherly said that last year, Bukopin provided Rp 8 trillion in
SME loans. It was likely to increase the funds for SMEs by 30
percent this year, he said. (004)