"MSMEs' contribution to the gross domestic product is 61 percent. They can also employ 97 percent of the workforce. Of the total 65.5 million Indonesian MSMEs, some 64 million are micro businesses, more than half of which are owned and managed by women," she said in a statement received here on Tuesday.
This means that the GDP rate cannot be separated from the role of women who own and manage half of those 64 million micro businesses in Indonesia, she said during her visit with Singaporean Minister for Social and Family Development, Masagos Zulkifli, to Sarinah Building, Central Jakarta, on Monday, to review handicrafts made by MSMEs in Indonesia.
Women have great potential and they are capable of making impactful contributions to Indonesia, including in economic aspects, Puspayoga highlighted.
“The potential of women needs to be consistently explored, one of which is through the priority program of the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, as per a directive from the President on improving women’s empowerment in entrepreneurship, which adopts a gender perspective," she added.
She also urged everyone to support national MSMEs as a manifestation of their love for domestic products in order to improve the national economy.
The visit to Sarinah Building was the last activity on the agenda of Minister Zulkifli and Minister Puspayoga. Their agenda was a follow-up to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two nation's ministries on November 8, 2022, in Singapore.
The MoU covers collaboration on women’s empowerment, children protection, and family development through the sharing of information and good practices, scheduling of programs and projects, and participation in events or training programs hosted by either ministry.
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Translator: Anita Permata Dewi, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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