Support for Financing Access and Training Drives Empowerment of Women MSMEs
One of the oft-overlooked aspects of empowering the small community is not a lack of willingness to work, but a lack of trust. Many ultra-micro women entrepreneurs live in cramped spaces with limited income, small businesses and almost no assets. They live from daily profits, sometimes just enough to buy food. Yet amid the constraints, they rise early and sleep late to keep the kitchen running.
Ironically, the hardest working groups are often the ones that struggle most to gain trust. In formal financial systems, trust is typically translated into numbers and collateral. To obtain financing, a person is asked to show assets, collateral, financial history, and good administrative ability. For ultra-micro ventures, not only is collateral often unavailable; many struggle to meet daily needs.
This is where the small-scale community often loses out before they are given a proper chance. Not due to a lack of desire to grow, but because they lack something considered trustworthy.
For ultra-micro entrepreneurs, access to unsecured financing is not merely a financial facility; it is recognition that they are capable, that their hard work has value, and that they have a chance to grow despite limitations.
That message was felt by Sri Aryanti Nurafiah, a PNM Mekaar customer in Cikarang Barat. As a housewife, Yanti initially wanted to help the family economy because her husband’s income did not fully meet daily needs.
With a small skill in making keychains, she wished to start a craft business. But like many ultra-micro entrepreneurs, limited capital made her hesitant.
‘Relying only on my husband’s salary would not be enough. I want to start a craft business, but with limited capital I am uncertain,’ she said.
By 2022, PNM arrived offering business financing. The capital Yanti received was immediately used to purchase raw materials. From a home-based small venture, her business gradually grew.
What she had never imagined became a reality. ‘I never thought it possible, but my business has grown further and further. My capital was also increased by PNM, so I dared to open my stall,’ she said.
What made the financing feel more meaningful, however, was not only the capital for the business. Yanti says the mentoring and training she received became a crucial turning point for her business.
Through the Mekaarpreneur programme, she received free training on promotion, branding, packaging, and digital marketing. From previously selling in a simple manner at home, her business began to extend onto digital platforms such as TikTok and Shopee. Yanti even won second place in the Mekaarpreneur competition for customers progressing in Bekasi–Jakarta.
Yanti’s story shows that ordinary people do not actually need philanthropy. They need space to prove their own abilities. Too often, what hinders them is not a lack of willingness to work, but limited access and trust.
When unsecured financing arrives alongside mentoring and learning opportunities, the impact is not only to change a person’s business but also to alter how they view themselves. From merely surviving, they become confident enough to dream bigger. For ultra-micro women entrepreneurs, trust is the most valuable capital.
Carrying the hashtags #PNMuntukUMKM and #PNMPemberdayaanUMKM, the programme is a continuation of a similar initiative last year under the banner #CariTauLangkahBaru to broaden impact and cultivate standout customers to grow further. (H-2)
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