Tourism and Creative Economy Minister, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, said the initiative is in line with President Joko Widodo's directive to increase the contribution of entrepreneurship in the new economic order in the recovery era after the pandemic.
"(With the presence of social commerce), we feel a good benefit for the economy's revival, (such as new) business opportunities and job vacancies," said Uno at a virtual conference on Tuesday.
Social commerce platforms must function as a support for resellers to trade without capital and stock, given that method is a new way of doing business today, and it ensures the supply chain is secured, he said.
He said that he and the director of governance and digital economy at the ministry, Selliane Halia Ishak, also appreciated the founders and managers of social commerce platforms who had provided support for hundreds of thousands of MSMEs registered as members in the digital ecosystem through applications.
According to the minister, social commerce applications have done the right thing by targeting the MSME sector, whose contribution to Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) has reached 61 percent, but which is yet to improve quality, in terms of business processes.
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"With social commerce (platforms), we expect that the contribution of MSMEs will continue to increase to 65 percent in the following year and 97 percent (in terms of) job vacancies," he added.
He said the contribution of the creative economy sector has increased, including culinary, craft, fashion, and 14 other sub-sectors, which have raked up to US$15 billion. In addition, the sector has created around 20 million job opportunities across Indonesia.
Uno further said he expected that business actors, including MSMEs and social commerce platform managers, would contribute to the Proud Indonesian-made National Movement and continue promoting and selling local-made products.
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Translator: Rizka K, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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