The digital wave offers a promising future for home industries across the countries.

Lalu Pirngadi was browsing on his Instagram account, checking for comments and, perhaps, purchase orders for some handmade traditional woven fabrics, the photos of which he posted earlier.

'€œOur presence on social media platforms the past three months has helped us a lot in sales and marketing,'€ said the 24-year-old while working on his tablet.

As one of the few university graduates in Batujai village, in the West Praya district of central Lombok, Pirngadi was entrusted by his mother, Lale Alon Sari, to handle the digital marketing and purchase orders that come from many parts of the country.

Himself working as a counselor for the weaver communities in neighboring Southwest Praya district, which requires a lot of traveling, Pirngadi said the internet technology enabled him to multitask.

'€œWith it you can market the goods anytime, anywhere and to anyone.'€

There are 120 weavers, all of them housewives in the village, under the Stagen women cooperative chaired by Alon Sari, who produce up to three woven cloths per person in a week.

'€œWe used to sell the cloths through friends and had to guess which motifs we have to produce. Now we'€™re exposed to so many opportunities,'€ said the laureate of many awards on women rights and development.

The promising future of the home industry was initiated by Samsung Electronics Indonesia under its '€œOne Village One Product'€ corporate social responsibilities (CSR) project in central Lombok, one of the 183 underdeveloped regions listed in 2015.

Central Lombok is located within a 10-minute drive from the Lombok International Airport.

Online: Lalu Pirngadi checks his Instagram account where he has posted photos of Lombok traditional woven fabrics.

The project was held in collaboration with the Korean Trade Investment-Promotion Agency and Indonesia'€™s Cooperative, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry.

The company'€™s head of government relations and corporate citizenship, Ennita Pramono, said that the cooperative received a two-day workshop at the end of October on digital marketing that included steps to create email, social media accounts and how to keep them interesting to attract buyers.

It also provided the cooperative with manual looms, sewing machines, power generators and four Samsung Tab tablets in a bid to increase their productivity.

'€œWith technological support, home industries have more access to markets, both domestic and international. Technology provides big opportunities, starting from the device itself, email and social media to e-commerce, which can generate indefinite benefits for the cooperatives,'€ said Ennita.

These rapid changes were also felt by Nikmah, the founder and chairwoman of the women'€™s cooperative, Harapan Bersama, in Bakan Daya village, Janapria district.

The cooperative'€™s members are 86 housewives who produce wickerwork made of ketak grass, which now in demand in both local and world markets.

Nikmah, who let her niece Samsul Hadi manage the email and Facebook fan page of the cooperative'€™s shop, Ampian Handicraft, said that she used to physically carry the sheer volume of sample products and a catalogue to the prospective buyers.

'€œJust last week I was invited to a hotel to make a presentation on our products and they were gasping in awe as I only opened my tablet to show them the photos of the products,'€ said Nikmah.

For sale: A display of various products made of ketak grass

Samsul said that the online marketing strategy has helped raise people'€™s awareness that the ketak handicraft was made in Lombok instead of Bali, the traditional market for the wickerwork.

Samsung also provided machinery to jack up productivity of rice-flour merungkung cookies at the women'€™s cooperative, Restu Annisa, in Mantang village, Batukliang district.

'€œWhat we have left to provide for the cooperatives is to create websites for each of them so they can input more details on the products and the cooperatives,'€ said Ennita.
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'€” Photos by JP/Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak