Jakarta (ANTARA) - Around 18.5 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have entered the digital ecosystem so far, Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Teten Masduki, informed on Thursday.
"As of now, 18.5 million MSME players have been connected to the digital ecosystem, grew by 131 percent compared to before the pandemic," he said at a webinar entitled ‘Green Economy Indonesia Summit 2022: The Future Economy of Indonesia,’ on Thursday.
Through the Proud of Indonesian Products National Movement (Gernas BBI), the government is encouraging MSME players in the country to adopt digital technology, which is in line with the push for digital development in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The government is targeting to get at least 30 million MSMEs and artisans to join online marketplaces by 2023.
Currently, there are 65 million MSMEs in Indonesia, or equivalent to 99.9 percent of the business population in the country, the minister noted. Those MSMEs absorb 97 percent of the workforce and contribute 61.7 percent to the GDP.
Not only digitization, currently, environmentally friendly business practices, or green economy, are also a part of the ministry's transformative recovery agenda, he added.
According to research conducted by the ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme on more than three thousand MSMEs in October 2021, 95 percent of the MSMEs evinced interest in and showed support for the implementation of environmentally friendly business practices.
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Many countries have moved toward a green economy by implementing environmentally friendly policies and making ambitious goals, Masduki noted.
The Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises is also striving to formulate strategies for the development of green MSMEs, including through green value chain business partnership programs, provision of market access through e-commerce green products, international green economy thematic exhibitions, business incubation through social entrepreneurship development, and digitization of MSMEs.
"I am optimistic that Indonesia can adapt to the green economy trend," Masduki remarked.
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