Assessment and Coaching of UKM Center FEB UI: Strengthening and Empowering Palm Oil-Based Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)
DEPOK – (15/10/2020) Indonesia is one of the largest palm oil producing countries in the world. Palm oil business players are still mostly dominated by small-scale farmers, such as palm oil farmer families or palm oil MSMEs. The UKM Center FEB UI is fully supported by the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS), the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, to conduct Assessment and Coaching activities “Strengthening and Empowering Oil-Based Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)”.
As a commodity that has many benefits, palm oil can be further developed by MSMEs to produce more innovative and diverse derivative products, so that the potential of palm oil commodities can be utilized optimally. Apart from that, the actors are also expected to increase their entrepreneurial skills, so that they can better manage plantations and produce high quality products that can compete in the market.
This activity began with a database collection process involving the Indonesian Palm Oil Smallholders Association (APKASINDO), the cooperative office, the plantation office, and Oil Palm-Based MSMEs in 3 regions in Indonesia, namely Mamuju, Ketapang, and Pangkalan Bun. The database obtained will be developed into Leading Partners for Development of Palm Oil Farmers and Palm Oil-Based MSMEs, who will be given training and assistance.
From July to October 2020, 4 coaching and monitoring sessions were carried out every week, for approximately 90 participants spread across the three areas. In November, there will still be mentoring and boot camp programs for all participants. The coaching that has been given consists of materials related to entrepreneurship, marketing, production, and finance. For each coaching session, this activity always presents speakers who are experts in their fields. Among them are Permata Wulandari, Ph.D and Hapsari Setyowardhani, S.E., M.M who is a lecturer from the Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, Dr. Nining I. Susilo as the Supervisory Board of the LDPB Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, and Marzuki, S.E., C.E.C., CRBD as the President Director of PT BPR South Sumatra.
Even though it has to be implemented online, all coaching and monitoring programs are running well. This also did not discourage the participants from participating in this whole series of activities. This activity was attended by representatives from several MSME players and cooperatives in the palm oil sector, representatives from the Indonesian Oil Palm Farmers Association (Apkasindo), as well as the Office of Cooperatives and MSMEs in West Sulawesi, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan Provinces. During the coaching sessions, participants had the opportunity to explore their entrepreneurial potential, build a business model canvas, create business prototypes, and business and financial management methods.
In addition, material was also given about the People’s Palm Oil Rejuvenation Program (PSR) scheme, which is a refinancing assistance (replanting) delivered by Mr. Sunari as a representative of BPDP-KS. The PSR program is not just financial assistance to replace old plants with new plants, but also to increase the productivity of oil palm land. Currently, BPDP-KS is channeling funding assistance of IDR 30 million per hectare and is assisted by other funds such as KUR, as well as other banking financing schemes.
Closing this series of activities, Dr. Nining I. Susilo delivered material on UMKM funding. She explained that currently, the main focus of access to finance in Indonesia is from the banking sector. In fact, the government has offered many alternative financings for the wider community, especially MSMEs. Among them are KUR, financing from Non-Bank Financial Institutions (LKBB) such as Pegadaian, PNM, or Microfinance Institutions. Lastly, Dr. Nining also urged palm oil MSMEs to apply for the financing provided by BPDP-KS as a source of funding that they can use. (hjtp)
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