"There are still a lot of endemic potentials in the Lore Lindu Biosphere Reserve that have not been exposed, for instance, products or commodities can become kitchen spices, skincare, and so on," SMESCO Indonesia president director Leonard Theosabrata said here on Friday.
SMESCO has just signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state-owned pharmaceutical company Indofarma for the extraction of potential commodities from Lore Lindu.
MSME players in the region will only need to carry out the initial processing and then send the products to partners outside Sigi for further processing.
It is expected that the scheme will produce flagship products that can be certified and meet international standards.
SMESCO, under the aegis of the ministry, is carrying out activities focused on serving the public, one of which is improving access to the ecosystems built by SMESCO.
"We have named this ecosystem Sparc, where the approach is that the supply chain from on-farm to retail must be supervised to keep it on-focus," Theosabrata informed.
SMESCO oversees the process to ensure the quality of the commodities or products.
According to Theosabrata, Indonesian micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are facing the challenge of sporadically spread "pocket supplies."
Meanwhile, through the Sparc ecosystem and network, SMESCO can contribute to the economy with a better approach.
"SMESCO sees other stakeholders as strategic partners, and our focus is on Eastern Indonesia, especially Sigi, which can be a gateway or a model for Eastern Indonesia to become more advanced and contribute to the Indonesian economy," he said.
Earlier, SMESCO Indonesia signed an MoU with Indofarma to support the entry of Indonesia's leading herbal products in the herbal and natural extract industry chain.
"This MoU is to promote a mutually beneficial partnership and access of business, distribution, and marketing of SME products and infrastructure to support economic recovery," Theosabrata said on June 1, 2023.
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Translator: Aji C, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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