The Financial Services Authority (OJK) is dedicated to fostering greater digital financial inclusion and knowledge, particularly among MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises). The support, it is believed, will MSMEs to support the national economy and the economic stability in ASEAN.
At the Financial Inclusion and Literacy for MSMEs hosted by the OJK and the Ministry of Finance in the framework of the ASEAN Chairmanship 2023 Side Event in Bali, Chief Executive of the Supervision of the Conduct of Financial Services Businesses, Education and Consumer Protection of OJK Friderica Widyasari Dewi emphasised the importance of providing seminars to help increase the marketing and optimisation skills of MSME company owners. Inspiring micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) must expand to the next stage in this way.
“OJK will maintain its focus on fostering a fertile environment for digital finance innovation. By digitising numerous financial processes, we will continue to make them more accessible to MSMEs and make available different funding options,” she said.
Credit Against Moneylenders, for example, has been effectively implemented in 78 regions, reaching nearly 1 million borrowers with a funding value of more than IDR 26 trillion. OJK continues to support activities to provide such cheap and straightforward financing for MSMEs. Friderica pledged that the Financial Access Acceleration Team Regional (TPAKD) and the Generic Model would continue to be optimised better to serve micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
Sri Mulyani, Minister of Finance, highlighted the significance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the ASEAN area. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for between 35% and 97% of all jobs and 35% to 69% of GDP. However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in ASEAN nations and Indonesia still need help with several obstacles, including limited access to money, markets, and technology.
Sri Mulyani remarked, “Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises are an important sector for us, so financial inclusion for MSMEs is a priority agenda for the ASEAN economy.”
The budgets of ASEAN member states, mainly Indonesia’s, rely heavily on the work of MSMEs. Many people find work at MSMEs. According to 2019 estimates, the MSME segment of the Indonesian economy employs 120 million people or roughly 97% of the overall workforce. More than half of Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) is generated by the country’s estimated 65 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which employ the vast majority of the country’s workforce.
The importance of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to the ASEAN economy was brought up at the event. Still, this importance needs to be matched by sufficient financial inclusion and knowledge.
Regarding digital financial inclusion, OJK makes sure that financial literacy and customer safety are prioritised. By enforcing reasonable laws for financial service providers and their customers, OJK hopes to continue striking a balance between the potential downsides and upsides of technological advancements in the financial sector.
The Ministry of Communication and Informatics has made additional modernisation efforts to improve MSME digital skills. In Aceh Besar, the Ministry of Education provides digital marketing instruction to one hundred students at the Digital Entrepreneurship Academy (DEA).
Together with international technology corporations and regional businesses, the Digital Entrepreneurship Academy (DEA) has developed the Digital Talent Scholarship 2021 programme. This programme’s goal is to create digital talent in the area of MSMEs and reach a population of 22,500 people. The activity was conducted to train people to be effective workers in the age of the fourth industrial revolution.
