“In Indonesia, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) provide 67 percent of job creation. Women play a very big role in creative work or becoming entrepreneurs," Silallahi noted at the seminar on 'Women's Entrepreneurial Empowerment Through Inclusive Business,’ which was held virtually on Tuesday.
Of all SMEs in Indonesia, as many as 62 percent are owned by women at the micro-level, Silalahi said.
“It has become clear that the role of women as entrepreneurs must be empowered. This means that there must be support for a very large percentage of women," she added.
However, women entrepreneurs face various challenges, such as lack of financial literacy and access to credit and investment, she said.
Women entrepreneurs also face challenges in entering public procurement, she added.
"Therefore, we really appreciate and we are pleased with the collaboration between W20 as an engagement group and the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, the government, and representatives to take concrete/real actions in supporting women entrepreneurs to achieve more inclusive business practices," she said.
She said she hopes that more commitments will soon be made by the government, associations, and business owners in terms of empowering women entrepreneurs.
"Let us put recovery together at the forefront of achieving the G20's efforts towards gender equality and women's empowerment," she remarked.
Silalahi expressed the hope that the seminar on empowering women entrepreneurs would provide insights and benefits to women entrepreneurs.
“Women and small and medium enterprises are one of the four priority issues that we bring to the G20.
Earlier, W20 Indonesia co-chair Dian Siswarini said the issue of gender equality would be one of the four priority issues brought up by Women-20 (W20) during the G20 Indonesia Presidency.
W20 is focusing on four priority issues: gender equality; economic inclusion, namely supporting MSMEs that are owned and managed by women; increasing the resilience of rural women and women with disabilities; and access to gender-just health facilities..
Related news: Gov't asked to facilitate digital transformation of women-owned MSMEs
Related news: Women play important role in MSMEs: Indrawati
Reporter: Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
