Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – PT HM Sampoerna Tbk (HMSP), through the Sampoerna Entrepreneurship Training Center (SETC) collaborates with the East Indonesia Export Ambassador to produce MSMEs who are able to penetrate exports, including from East Indonesia.
Under the umbrella of the “Sampoerna for Indonesia” Sustainability Program together with the Business & Export Development Organization (BEDO) Foundation, SETC carries out various efforts to open access to domestic and foreign markets. After going through selection, mentoring and training, Sampoerna then took Dekema to take part in the Trade Expo Indonesia 2023 exhibition at ICE BSD, Tangerang, Banten, which was Marvio’s first experience.
Marvio B. Pantas (28 years old), owner of MSME Dekema, has an interest in community empowerment which encouraged him to start his business. Dekema helps farmers from Sangihe Island, one of Indonesia’s outermost islands, market their products. Dekema, which was founded in 2021, is currently one of the East Indonesia Export Ambassadors representing North Sulawesi Province.
Marvio said that as an MSME from an outer island, it is an honor to be able to take part in Trade Expo Indonesia 2023. Through this event, he hopes that superior commodity products from Sangihe such as processed nutmeg, vanilla and coconut oil can be widely known and exported with added value. not just raw materials.
“I hope that through Trade Expo Indonesia we can introduce our products in the regions as well as open market access to get to know buyers for export,” he said on the sidelines of Trade Expo Indonesia 2023 recently.
Marvio said that since college he wanted to return to the village and have a business. After being active in various organizations, this English Literature graduate from Manado State University (UNIMA) believes that villages have a lot of economic potential, especially commodities.
Initially in 2020, Marvio was active in educating farmers to exploit local potential in Sangihe. However, over time there is a need to create products of economic value.
“If there is no product that can be sold, it feels like it is not enough because farmers need something real. In 2021 we have decided to start initial production, namely coconut oil,” he explained.
After being convinced of his business prospects, Marvio then borrowed IDR 50 million from his family to start the Dekema business. The funds are used for purchasing equipment and others. Thanks to perseverance, Dekema’s business was able to pay off the loan and start to become profitable.
Marvio’s joining as East Indonesia Export Ambassador started from brief information regarding this program when he served in Toraja as a village assistant in the Energy Patriot Program of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Together with other export ambassadors from Eastern Indonesia, Marvio then received a number of trainings from SETC and BEDO in Bali with a focus on increasing entrepreneurial and export capacity.
“After training with Sampoerna, I learned many things, such as why it is necessary to look at commodities in the village and why they need to be exported. I realize this is not easy but it can be done,” he said.
Currently, Dekema has partnered with 50 farmers in two villages in Sangihe. From the training and assistance from SETC and BEDO, Marvio found that there were at least 3 challenges in marketing commodity products from North Sulawesi and Sangihe, especially for export.
First, many commodities in the village are not uniform in terms of the quality requested by buyers. Second, product sustainability because village residents generally work based on the seasons. Third, he continued, is the challenge from the transportation side of sending goods abroad.
“I hope that this assistance and training from SETC will continue because it is very helpful,” he said.
Meanwhile, SETC is an integrated entrepreneurship training program that has been around since 2007. SETC has training facilities as supporting facilities which stand on 27 hectares of land in Pasuruan, East Java. SETC actively provides integrated entrepreneurship training ranging from soft skills to hard skills in order to increase capacity and help MSMEs progress further.
SETC has provided training to more than 67,000 participants from all over Indonesia until the end of 2022. Apart from training, SETC also facilitates applied research, mentoring and market networking, business consulting, and MSME networking.
Meanwhile, BEDO is a non-profit foundation based in Bali that focuses on assisting and training MSMEs for export. Marvio continued that currently the majority of Dekema commodities such as nutmeg, vanilla and coconut oil are marketed in Manado. The wider public can order Dekema products via social media such as Instagram @de_kema20. Currently, Dekema is pioneering new products such as isotonic nutmeg.
“It’s almost the end of the year, when the family visits we will present it and leave it as a souvenir. If the response is positive, we will take it seriously,” he concluded.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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