Supply chain management issue is a primary challenge for the development of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises’ (MSMEs) product markets, Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Teten Masduki has said.

“Despite the fact that Indonesia has various products, the production capacity of its entrepreneurs, however, remains small,” he said in a written statement here on Sunday.

At the Indonesian Bazaar Hits event in Bogor, West Java, he highlighted that there is a large demand for brown sugar from Europe and North America.

However, MSMEs entrepreneurs, especially the ones at the micro and small level, continued to receive aggregation to fulfill this demand.

Hence, Masduki welcomed BogorHitz Commerce that acts as a platform for quality MSMEs products from Bogor that are expected to be able to compete at the international level.

“I always encourage regional heads to pick and choose one or several quality products unique to their regions for us to develop their qualities and marketing,” he affirmed.

The minister underlined the importance of MSMEs’ digital transformation as it is projected that Indonesia’s digital economic strength will grow by eight-folds in 2030 or reaching Rp4.531 trillion.

With this potential, his ministry continued to accelerate MSMEs transition into the digital ecosystem. Currently, around 24.9 percent, or 16.4 million MSMEs, have underwent this digital transition.

On the occasion, Bogor’s Mayor Bima Arya said that MSMEs products should have unique touches in order to attract the global market.

This could be done by adding a modern nuance while also promoting their ethnic or local characteristics.

The Bogor municipality is planning to build a pedestrian area to be surrounded by hotels, cafes and restaurants offering culinary unique to Bogor, along Penjajaran street next year.

“I call this move as cosmopolitan nationalism,” Arya said.

Source: Antara News