The West Java Provincial Government appreciates the steps taken by Shopee Indonesia which is committed to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The Governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, did not even hesitate to express his praise in front of the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki, who was present virtually at the event to strengthen cooperation between the West Java Provincial Government and Shopee Indonesia.
"I want to convey this appreciation to the Minister, Shopee is no longer importing. In fact, now imports are stopped, now Shopee is Indonesia's main partner in exporting SME goods to making schools. Others are not that far in commitment," said Ridwan Kamil .
Ridwan Kamil hopes that other e-commerce can emulate Shopee's program for MSMEs. Currently Shopee runs various programs for MSMEs. Starting from training for Go Digital SMEs to Go Global through the Shopee Export Campus which is already running in Solo City, Central Java.
"Don't let Shopee itself follow the regulations but other brands don't. I think this authority is in the center," he explained.
The Massive Digital Transformation
Meanwhile, regarding the collaboration between the West Java Provincial Government and Shopee Indonesia, Ridwan Kamil said the program would be the most massive digital transformation in Indonesia. With this collaboration, Shopee is committed to providing 5,000 computer devices that will be distributed to villages to accelerate the digitization of MSMEs.
"This is an extraordinary event. The most massive digital transformation in this republic is in West Java. Later there will be 5,000 village digital centers whose infrastructure will be supported by Shopee. So the digital revolution in West Java is not half-hearted, but a very fast transformation," he explained. .
Later at Shopee Centers spread across villages, MSMEs will receive various trainings. The training topics include education on digitizing MSME products such as starting an online store on the Shopee platform as well as various ways of online marketing.
In addition, the training provided also includes MSME business assistance to support facilities for MSME business performance.
Currently, there are 3 pilot locations from the Shopee Village Center, namely Megamendung Village, Bogor, Tanjung Wangi Village, Subang and Kertayasa Village, Pangandaran Regency. These three BUMDes each received 2 laptops along with training from the Shopee team.
"Later on, village products, which were previously limited in market, can have access to all over Indonesia. They can even be exported later," he said.
The collaboration between the West Java Provincial Government and Shopee also received appreciation from the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs. Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki said the support of market workshops such as Shopee can help realize the digitization of Indonesian MSMEs.
Teten cites World Bank data which states that as many as 48.5 percent of self-employed respondents rely heavily on market places to develop their business.
"I think West Java has an advantage because it is close to Jabodetabek which is an economic center with high purchasing power," he said.
With this collaboration, Teten also hopes to help accelerate the digitalization of national MSMEs in the midst of a pandemic. "Currently, we have around 12 million MSMEs connected to digital platforms. We are targeting that in 2024 there will be 30 million MSMEs," said Teten.
Shopee Indonesia Executive Director, Christin Djuarto said this collaboration aims to raise the huge potential of West Java MSMEs to enter the digital economy. Shopee, he said, saw that West Java Province had great potential with a variety of strong product categories such as textiles, leather goods, wood crafts, Sundanese batik, and so on which were believed to be ready to compete.
"In line with the government's vision and mission, in this case from the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs and the West Java Provincial Government, Shopee is committed to facilitating and providing the spotlight for MSME actors to continue to grow," he said.
"Hopefully, with the various initiatives given, we can jointly start the success of Indonesian SMEs with Go Digital and continue to Go Global with Shopee," he concluded.
