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)