Indonesia Lags Behind Malaysia, Thailand in Entrepreneurship, Says SME Minister
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6 October 2023 22:53 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Teten Masduki said that Indonesia was falling behind Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand in the number of entrepreneurs with only 3.4 percent of the total population.
“Compared to Singapore, which has less than 5 million people, the number of entrepreneurs is around 8.6 percent. Malaysia and Thailand are already above 4.5 percent. Indonesia, which has a population of 270 million, has only 3.47 percent of entrepreneurs,” Teten said at the Indonesia Digital Meet Up 2023 event at the Smesco building, South Jakarta, on Thursday, October 5, 2023.
Teten emphasized that MSMEs as the backbone of the economy could indeed produce new entrepreneurs. “The backbone of our economy is MSMEs. 97 percent of jobs are created by MSMEs,” he added.
Unfortunately, the economic scale of Indonesian MSMEs is still at the subsistence level, which is just to meet household needs. “That’s not productive,” Teten assessed.
Moreover, the products are not globally competitive because they are produced with simple production equipment. “I think if we do not change this simple business model, our MSMEs will experience market stagnation,” he asserted.
Teten wished that the evolution of MSMEs would not just increase the scale of their business but also make the products competitive.
“That's why we actually want to create new entrepreneurs from young people who are aware of technology and aware of business models that are innovative, relevant, and not become competitors of existing MSME players,” he said, adding that new investments shall not kill old investments.
The SME Minister said investment must be able to transform the old economy into a more modern one. “What we need to do is to create quality jobs,” Teten concluded.
YOHANES MAHARSO JOHARSOYO
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