- 13/07/2022
- Category: Press Release
Digitalizing MSMEs is an effort taken by business owners in order to answer the challenges. MSMEs are known as the backbone of Indonesia’s economy, whose issues are always relevant to be discussed by various parties in Indonesia. Seeing this condition, CfDS tried to discuss with experts from the government, industry, and academia. As part of the G20 2022 series, CfDS in collaboration with GoTo presents Digital Expert Talk (DET) #12 “Fostering Resilient SMEs for a Sustainable Economy” online on Friday, 22 April 2022.
DET #12 invited experts from the Government side, the Ministry of Communication and Information, Chair of the G20 Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG), Mira Tayyiba. From the side of the GoTo Group company, Ardhanty Nurwidya, as VP of Public Policy and Government Relations (IP, Tech and Data). And from the academic side, Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Boyke Rudi Purnomo, and moderated by the Executive Secretary of CfDS, Diah Angendari.
Mira Tayyiba said that currently there are more than 60 million MSMEs contributing to the Indonesian economy by taking more than 90% of the workforce. For that reason, creating a digital ecosystem for MSMEs is a shared responsibility for accelerating Indonesia’s digital economy. Until now, the Ministry of Communication and Information has made several efforts to digitize MSMEs, such as providing digital infrastructure, providing internet access, launching satellites, strengthening digital literacy, data management, and digitalizing MSMEs through various programs. “In carrying out digitalization, there are three principles that must be carried out, that is inclusion, where digitalization must be enjoyed by all levels of society. Then the empowering MSMEs with access to digital skills to generate added value. And also the sustainable principle to support a sustainable digital economy,” Said Mira.
From industry perspective, Ardhanty Nurwidya said that GoTo has tried to provide an integrated ecosystem and services for MSMEs to encourage Indonesia’s economic recovery. The activities carried out included the marketing line, with the existence of GoFood and GoStore. Then, there is order processing through Selly, digital payments through Gopay and Midtrans, logistics services through GoSend and TokoCabang, business operations with GoBiz and Moka, and Tokopedia as e-commerce.
As the last speaker, Boyke Rudi Purnomo said that a strong MSME is MSME that continues to operate their business in the midst of any conditions of society. Entrepreneurs need to understand the changes that are happening around them, including the Covid-19 pandemic, socio-cultural changes, technological developments, Indonesian legal and political policies.
“For resilience, business owners need to apply what is called an emergency strategy, the ability to take plans during an emergency. An entrepreneur also needs to have social resources to build trust to survive, other than business skills.”
Boyke said, the resilience of MSMEs in Indonesia is low due to the many limitations felt by MSME managers in various sectors, such as capital, resources, human resource competence, and technology. To measure how tough MSMEs are, we can look at the way the business owner’s leadership is. This is because many important decisions taken by MSMEs are determined by the business owner. For this reason, the competence of entrepreneurs is very much needed in the course of business adapting in the midst of changing trends and existing situations.
Digital Experts Talk
The Center for Digital Society (CfDS) is a study center under the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada. CfDS focuses on the study of digital society, including digital business and lifestyle. Through various research and public discussion events, CfDS provides a means of educating the public about the impact of technology in various aspects of life, including social, political, and economic aspects. One of them is the Digital Experts Talk which discusses interesting issues related to the digital world by presenting experts from each field and issue. These speakers will present their writings, researchs, as well as knowledge and experience to be discussed with the participants present. On this occasion, Digitalk will be conducted online and broadcast live through the official CfDS channel. Digital Expert Talk #12 can be watched again via Youtube CfDS UGM.
