Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Investment/Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) and ride hailing application company Gojek have inked a collaboration agreement for developing digital MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises).

The ministry and Gojek, also known as PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday under which they will collaborate on an information dissemination program on business licensing for MSMEs, provide business establishment assistance, resolve business barriers for MSMEs, as well as foster and develop skills for digital-based MSMEs.

The BKPM has, from the beginning, emphasized the importance of encouraging MSME entrepreneurs to develop and advance their businesses, deputy for investment cooperation at the Ministry of Investment (BKPM), Riyatno, said in a statement received here on Friday.

One of the challenges to this is that MSMEs do not understand the legalities of business licensing or own licenses, which prevent them from obtaining financing to develop their businesses from financial institutions, he explained.

"The target of the Ministry of Investment/BKPM is to provide legalization or help provide ease of licensing to as many MSME actors as possible throughout Indonesia. This Memorandum of Understanding is one of the efforts to provide ease to MSME actors, especially under Gojek," Riyatno said.

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The Ministry of Investment will implement risk-based business licensing through the OSS system on August 2, 2021, he added.

"We hope that this collaboration can help MSEs, especially small business actors, to obtain business licenses through the OSS System, such as the Business Identification Number (NIB), which functions not only as identity and legality, but can also function as SNI (Indonesian National Standard) identifier and also product guarantee certification. This is one of the facilities provided by the government through this OSS system," he added.

Meanwhile, director for public policy and government relations at Gojek, Shinto Nugroho, said the collaboration is in line with Gojek's commitment to assisting the digitization of MSMEs through technological solutions to help them adapt to a changing business environment.

"In addition to technological solutions, Gojek also supports the development of MSMEs through various programs, including educational sessions and programs to expand business scale," he added.

He said he believed that collaboration with BKPM would provide business partners in the Gojek ecosystem with useful support for running a sustainable business.

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Translator: Ade Irma J, Aria Cindyara
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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