She had just returned from Hong Kong, where she worked for five years.

Sriyatin decided to open a small eatery serving pecel, vegetable salad, in her home town in Blitar, East Java.

“I was then opening a small eatery that served pecel. But it didn’t last long. The profits were less than what I had imagined,” she told journalists recently on the sidelines of a workshop given for Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong.

She then tried her luck by opening other businesses, but was stuck.

Sriyatin said things went from bad to worse as she quarreled with her husband, who couldn’t find a stable job, as they raised their two children.

“With the kindness of the people I knew back home, I could once again go to Hong Kong to work as maid,” she said.

“I had no one to continue the businesses, let alone my husband. Therefore I had to close the eatery and the small-scale snack-production business that I pioneered,” she said.

When she returned to Hong Kong, things were different. She witnessed a growing number of workshops, from those offering self-help and stress management programs to Koran recital to financial empowerment seminars.

She then opted to join the workshop organized by Bank Mandiri, Indonesia’s largest state-owned lender in terms of assets.

The program, called “Mandiri Sahabatku”, or “My Best Friend Mandiri”, was organized by the bank along with Ciputra University’s Entrepreneurship Center and the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) in October.

It aimed to assist the migrant workers in preparing their future careers back home.

“The workshops require seriousness and the full attention from participants. Each participant is obliged to come with a clear and executable future business concept. Those who can’t won’t be allowed to continue the course,” she said.

Sriyatin said she was upbeat with the workshops as she was being taught how to organize clearer concepts, including business plan development.

“This time, I want to sell duck eggs but they won’t be salted but will come with other flavors like sweetened eggs or even eggs with chili. God willing, I’ll go home this year, before the end of my contract, to start my duck-egg business, only this time with better preparation,” she said.

Fadilatuzahra, 29, another migrant worker, also attended the workshop. She said she had saved her money and prepared her own concept for a boutique in her home town of Lampung in southern Sumatra.

“My boutique will only sell traditional batik fabrics and clothing. I have contacted my brother who lives in Surakarta to help me out in selecting the fabrics,” she said.

When asked why she wanted to open a batik boutique, Fadilatuzahra reasoned that most of the residents in her village were of Javanese descent, which she considered good market.

Rahmat Widiyanto, a vice president for Bank Mandiri in Hong Kong, acknowledged that he had witnessed a great deal of enthusiasm from the Indonesian migrant workers who participated in the workshops.

“The first batch consisted of 450 people, of which 10 have been closely monitored because their businesses are growing. We are ready to provide financial assistance whenever they need it,” Rahmat said.

Bank Mandiri recorded 31,505 transactions valued at HK$116 million (US$14.9 million) in 2011, while the bank said there were 7,955 transactions valued at HK$ 25.4 million in the first three months of 2012.

According to the local Indonesian consulate-general, Hong Kong was currently home to 150,000 migrant workers.

Rahmat said once the participants “graduated” from the workshops and were ready to kick off their planned businesses, the bank’s Hong Kong office would hand over their data to the branch nearest their homes.

“That way it will be easier for us to assist them in developing their businesses,” he said.

He said the bank had started the seminar for a second batch. More than 500 people have already registered.

The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry’s expert staff member, Dita Indah Sari, said organizing cooperation between the migrant workers and financial institutions like banks was one of the ministry’s targets.

“We’ve been witnessing quite good results as the enthusiasm to participate in these program is high,” she said.

However, she admitted that the best way to prevent these workers from workinga abroad as maids was by organizing moratoriums or increasing the minimum requirements for those who want to work as migrant workers abroad.

“This isn’t the responsibility of the government alone, because the area is too wide to be covered,” Dita, also a student activist in the Soeharto era, said.

However, Anis Hidayah of Migrant Care said that the workshops should have been held while the migrant workers were at home.

“The workshops aren’t just for the migrant workers, but also for the family members. The idea is to empower the whole family in developing their own life,” she said.

She said by conducting the workshops abroad, it was difficult to measure who had managed to pay enough attention or who had developed their business.

“One thing is certain. Most of the workers are growing consumptive and their money is flowing to their home country and the government will benefit from the foreign exchange,” she said. 

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