By: Reza Setiawan
Craftsmen or better known as Small and Medium Enterprises (UMKM) are demanded to be more innovative in marketing their business products. This sector is very effective in absorbing workers.
Kotamobagu City Government (City Government) is committed to developing the creative industry. This was stated by the Head of the Cooperative and UMKM Trade Office, Herman Aray. According to him, Kotamobagu UMKM are able to provide empowerment to people who have a lot of potential.
Aray said, all of this is done solely to provide access and space for UMKM actors in developing their business. In addition, the Office of Trade, Cooperatives and UMKM Kotamobagu also routinely provides various education and training for UMKM actors.
The existence of UMKM is believed to be able to contribute to reducing unemployment in Kotamobagu. He explained that it was what we tried to push, because there were so many positive effects on the existence of UMKM. In addition to improving the economy, it can also provide employment opportunities for the community.
He also mentioned that there were 15,056 UMKM. The amount consists of Micro Small Enterprises (SMEs) of 14,837, and Large Micro Enterprises (UMB) 219. The amount has absorbed a lot of labor.
Aray said, from the data, there were 28,308 workers working in SMEs and 4,674 people working in UMB. So that the presence of UMKM is indeed able to absorb labor, and is able to reduce unemployment in this area.
For this reason, it is hoped that continuity will occur as a pillar of communication between UMKM and the government, so that there are solutions to any problems encountered. Therefore, to help increase the capacity of UMKM, the Regency Government is expected to play an active role, starting from providing training, providing capital loans and marketing assistance. All components of the community to be smart and smart to capture this great opportunity, given the optimization in this sector will have an impact on the increasing rate of economic growth of the general population and the economy of North Sulawesi in particular.