Small businesses get new center

Small businesses get new center

JAKARTA (JP): Dharma Bhakti Astra Foundation, in cooperation
with related government institutions and private firms, has
established the country's first small business development center
in Padang, West Sumatra.

The director general of small enterprises from the Ministry of
Cooperatives and Small Enterprises, Anwar Supriyadi, inaugurated
the center Saturday.

"This center is the first of its kind in Indonesia and should
be a model for other provinces," Supriyadi said in a ceremony
attended by West Sumatra governor Hasan Basri Durin and other
provincial officials.

Supriyadi also inaugurated a building owned by PT Aneka Mitra
Indoguna and an office for West Sumatra's Metal Small Industries
Association.

Supriyadi said the business development center should help
existing small businesses and cooperatives, and help create new
entrepreneurs in the province.

The center will be coordinated by the Ministry of Manpower,
but its programs will be overseen by the Ministry of Cooperatives
and Small Enterprises.

The center has a building and training facilities, especially
for small businesses and cooperatives -- all donated by the
foundation.

The foundation's vice chairman Aminuddin said 10 tenants from
small businesses and cooperatives were already using the center's
facilities.

They would go through a program, which would include
management training, consultation, a workshop and a comparative
study, Aminuddin said.

State-owned cement firm PT Semen Padang and coal miner PT
Tambang Batu Bara Bukit Asam's Ombilin production center have
also committed to supporting the center's operation, he said.

Aminuddin said the foundation also offered training and
guidance to small enterprises which supply products and services
to Semen Padang.

Their products and services to Semen Padang were worth Rp 2.7
billion (US$1 million) in the first semester of this year alone.
(rid)