JAKARTA – In the era of increasingly rapid digitalization, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia have a great opportunity to move up a class. The government, through the synergy of various ministries, continues to develop strategies to improve the welfare of MSMEs. This is one of the main priorities under the leadership of Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming.
The Indonesian Minister of Communication and Digitalization (Menkomdigi), Meutya Hafid, emphasized the importance of utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) for MSMEs. According to her, this technology can provide convenience in various aspects, such as creating logos, promotional narratives, and marketing videos.
“You can make a logo, make a narrative, make a video, that can be done. Maybe now the logos are already good. But there are those who may not have a logo, so that can also be made by AI,” said Meutya Hafid.
Furthermore, he highlighted the role of AI in preserving local culture. With AI, MSMEs engaged in the cultural sector can reach a wider market without losing their local identity. “The use of AI is also able to preserve local culture, especially helping to maintain the sustainability of a developing culture with a wider reach,” he added.
On the other hand, the Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, Maman Abdurrahman, revealed the plan to form an MSME holding as a strategic step to empower small business actors. This holding is designed to create connectivity between MSMEs and large industries, so that they can build a solid supply chain.
“Our hope is that this holding company will empower MSMEs by getting supplies, spare parts, all sorts of things from MSMEs. So that it can build connectivity between MSMEs and large industries,” explained Maman.
According to him, the agriculture, food and beverage, and merchandise sectors have great potential to enter the supply chain of large industries. To support this, the Ministry of SMEs will provide various facilities, such as production training, access to financing, business planning, and preparing investors.
“With this support, the ecosystem in this MSME holding can become a single entity that is no longer divided from each other,” he added.
The digitalization and integration strategy of MSMEs carried out by Prabowo-Gibran is expected to bring significant changes to small business actors in Indonesia. With the support of AI technology and the formation of MSME holdings, business actors now have a greater opportunity to compete in the global market and create better welfare.
This transformation not only provides economic benefits, but also becomes part of the effort to preserve local culture through technology. With concrete steps from the government, MSMEs in Indonesia are now on the right track to achieve progress and move up a class. []