The Riau Indonesian Textile Association (API) again successfully held a Sharing Class on entrepreneurship. As many as 30 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) participants in Riau attended a course on the topic of Entrepreneurial Spirit which was held in Pekanbaru City, Tuesday (21/3/2023). With the support of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) and the Asia Pacific Region (APR), the capacity building event for members of this association presented two national fashion activist speakers at the same time.

Present to give the opening remarks were Culinary Director Yuke Sri Rahayu, Craft Design and Fashion Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.

Yuke Sri Rahayu said that the fashion and craft sub-sector had a significant foreign exchange impact compared to other creative sub-sectors.

"Apart from culinary, fashion and craft are the biggest contributing sub-sectors to the GDP of the creative economy with a total contribution reaching around 75 percent every year. So, we as business actors are required to continue to be fast, geber and gaspol," he explained.

The participants, who consisted of textile and garment entrepreneurs in Riau, were very enthusiastic about taking part in the class which was divided into two sessions.

In the first session, participants were presented with material related to the entrepreneurial spirit presented by Indonesian fashion designer Anggiasari Mawardi, who has successfully brought his brand to the Paris Fashion Show and New York Fashion Week 2023.

"Riau Province has enormous potential for the textile and fashion market. One of its advantages is that it is located next to Malaysia and Singapore. Of course it is profitable if business people really take advantage of these opportunities and continue to innovate," said Anggi, who had just finished attending a fashion show. the largest Muslim clothing in Jakarta.

The second session was no less interesting. The material in this final session was about the creation of cloth motifs and colors by the lecturer in craft and fashion and creative expert Aprina Murwanti.

In this session, the participants exercised their own motives which were integrated from the nature of the brand they owned.

One of the participants from the local mukena brand, Kafilah, Ariful said he was grateful to be able to take part in this activity.

"I registered when the quota of participants was almost finished and I was lucky to be able to attend and it turned out that the material provided was very useful. My insight has broadened and the knowledge provided is also very relevant to the situation at hand," he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of BPD API Riau, Andiny said, as an association, API Riau is committed to continuing to assist MSME actors and regional fashion brands so they can compete and have international quality.

"The situation for textiles and textile production in Indonesia has been eroded by imported fabrics, as well as thrifting which is troubling. For this reason, regional textiles must be strengthened," he said.

"With the existence of the API and collaboration from the government and the private sector, regional fashion business people are motivated and quite optimistic about this situation," he concluded.