Minister of Co-operatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Teten Masduki underscored the need to improve the quality of employment provided by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The minister noted that up to 96 percent of the total workforce in Indonesia is provided by micro-enterprises alone.

“We need to improve micro-scale enterprises, so their capacity and product quality will improve. We must also support them in the financing aspects,” the minister stated during the 2022 UMKM Expo(rt) Brilianpreneur organized by state-owned Bank BRI here, Thursday.

He said that apart from needing financing for their business capital, MSMEs should also invest to increase their business capacity.

The minister emphasized the need for collaboration between stakeholders in the government, the banking sector, and the business sector to push MSMEs to increase their production capacity and ensure MSMEs’ product absorption into the market.

Despite some 40 percent of goods and services procured by the government being supplied from national MSMEs at present, he said that the percentage should be increased.

“The supply chain from the MSMEs to the private sector and the state-owned enterprises must continue to be developed. If the huge production needs of state companies and the private sector are supplied by MSMEs, it will bolster and strengthen the MSME economy,” Masduki stated.

The minister noted that several issues faced by MSMEs are the lack of product quality, production quantity, and business literacy, and to this end, he pressed for concerted efforts to be taken to address those issues.

“We need to conceive effective strategies to ensure our continued focus to assist (MSMEs) constantly, including to improve the ecosystem to support the export of MSMEs products with significant demand from foreign countries,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News