Since these businesses can be conducted at home, so we should not forget the role of women (entrepreneurs) as housewives.Jakarta (ANTARA) - Director for Digital Economy at the Communication and Informatics Ministry I Nyoman Adhiarna outlined several strategies on increasing the involvement of women micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the digital ecosystem.
"The first one is to conduct production switching. The pandemic has disrupted other business sectors, so some commodities have a much higher demand," he stated during a virtual talkshow of G20 Empowerment and Progression of Women’s Economic Representation (EMPOWER) titled "Road to G20 2022: Digitalization and Women in Business" on Wednesday.
The G20 EMPOWER is a working group under the Sherpa Track of Indonesia’s 2022 G20 Presidency, with the objective of expediting women's leadership and empowerment.
The situation led several MSMEs to make various adjustments to the market demand, so they could successfully survive in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the director noted.
He remarked that production switching can be conducted temporarily and did not require much capital, for instance, by becoming resellers or distributors of goods that are currently in demand.
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Another strategy is optimizing technology to market the products of women MSMEs to reach wider consumer targets through digital marketing and social media, he remarked.
Hence, Adhiarna encouraged MSME actors to partake in various digital training programs held by both the government and the private sector, such as various e-commerce companies.
"Many forms of assistance and facilities have been provided for MSMEs,” he noted.
Adhiarna's side expected that through trainings, the government can realize the target to get 30 million MSME players to enter e-commerce platforms by 2024.
The target was set by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to advance the national digital economic growth.
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However, in addition to honing digital skills, the director also expressed optimism that female MSME actors can create a cooperation forum based on local wisdom, with the main goal of women's empowerment.
He stated that the attempt aligned with the high role of women in the MSME sector, where women’s MSME are mostly associated with small shops as well as homemade food processing and handicraft making.
"Since these businesses can be conducted at home, so we should not forget the role of women (entrepreneurs) as housewives," he affirmed.
According to the Communication and Informatics Ministry’s data, the MSME sector has contributed to 61 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), or equivalent to Rp8,573 trillion, and absorbed 97 percent of the total national workforce.
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Translator: Arnidhya Zhafira, Uyu Liman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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