Strengthening MSMEs a key strategy to propel Jakarta into top 50 global cities

Strengthening Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the creative economy is a key strategy to bring Jakarta into the ranks of the world’s top 50 global cities by 2030. The Head of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Agency for Industry, Trade, Cooperatives, and Small and Medium Enterprises (PPKUKM), Elisabeth Ratu Rante Allo, stated that amidst Jakarta’s economic growth, strengthening the real sector through MSMEs is a crucial factor in maintaining inclusive, sustainable, and competitive economic growth. “In line with Governor Pramono Anung’s vision, the PPKUKM Agency continues to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem capable of producing creative, innovative, and adaptive business actors responsive to technological developments,” Ratu said in a statement received in Jakarta on Saturday. She explained that a global city is not only built through infrastructure and investment but also requires a strong foundation for the community’s economy. Moreover, MSMEs are viewed as the primary foundation for building a creative economic ecosystem that can create jobs, generate innovation, and increase the added value of local products. To realise this, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is optimising the JakPreneur programme. Through this programme, the PPKUKM Agency integrates business capacity development, provides mentoring, assists with financing access, expands market access, and accelerates digital transformation. “The high number of active assisted businesses indicates one thing: that the entrepreneurial ecosystem growing in Jakarta is getting stronger. This is capital for driving innovation and creativity-based economic growth,” she said. Data from the PPKUKM Agency also shows that creative economy actors dominate the assisted MSME ecosystem. The culinary subsector is the largest with 198,581 business actors (46.99 percent), followed by fashion with 24,116 businesses, crafts with 9,073 businesses, arts with 1,267 businesses, design with 693 businesses, photography with 20 businesses, and games with 11 businesses. “The diversity of these subsectors reflects the enormous potential of Jakarta’s creative economy as a source of new economic growth,” she stated. In an effort to expand market access and business efficiency in the digital economy era, the PPKUKM Agency continues to accelerate the digital transformation of MSMEs. “Currently, 278,155 JakPreneur participants (65.82 percent) have been digitised, while another 144,462 participants (34.18 percent) are still undergoing the mentoring process,” she said. Seeing this significant progress, Ratu is optimistic that strong MSMEs will give birth to an increasingly competitive creative economic ecosystem. She also believes that Governor Pramono’s vision to bring Jakarta into the top 50 global cities can be realised. “We continue to carry out Mr. Governor Pramono’s directives by ensuring that Jakarta’s MSMEs become one of the important pillars in supporting the realisation of the vision of Jakarta as an inclusive, innovative global city that ranks among the world’s top 50 global cities by 2030,” Ratu said.