"We see that digitalization has an important role to play in changing offline businesses that cannot open because of the pandemic. They can be bridged. GoTo wants to continue to contribute, so that MSMEs can keep selling," Andre Sulistyo, concurrently the GoTo Financial CEO, noted in a statement received in Jakarta, Friday.
Sulistyo remarked that the company was keen to continue to innovate, so that it can become a bridge for MSME players. Hence, his party also initiated the #BangkitBersama Movement that was compiled, so that it could also focus on the regions.
Consequently, he noted that more MSMEs could enter the ecosystem.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than four million new MSMEs joined Gojek, Tokopedia, and GoTO Financial, with most of them being new business actors.
Related news: No barrier to entry for new players with GoTo: experts
The #BangkitBersama movement is based on the fact that MSMEs are the backbone of the Indonesian economy, which must continue to be strengthened, so that they can become the main choice of the Indonesian people and be able to compete with global brands.
Moreover, the pandemic has hit MSMEs, especially those engaged in culinary arts, reaching 43.09 percent; services, 26.02 percent; and fashion, 13.01 percent.
A similar opinion was expressed by CEO and founder of Tokopedia, William Tanuwijaya. According to Tanuwijaya, during the 19 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, several MSMEs continued to struggle and did not give up owing to circumstances and ended up digitizing their business.
Tanuwijaya noted that they were in fact faced with a dilemma while choosing between prioritizing health and the economy in the midst of a pandemic.
"Health and the economy must go hand in hand. In fact, during the pandemic, more than four million new partners joined the GoTo ecosystem. Interestingly, 86 percent of them are new entrepreneurs," Tanuwijaya remarked.
He stated that millions of new partners might have earlier been office workers affected by layoffs but had to find ways to survive during the pandemic.
It also became an inspiration for them how they rose from this situation, he remarked.
Related news: Gojek, Tokopedia announce GoTo Group creation through merging services
Translator: Citro Atmoko, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
