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Coca Cola, Gojek provide business assistance for small businesses
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), ranging from small shops and warung to distributors of consumer products, contribute more than 60 percent to Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP).
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Fatimah, 62, the owner of a small kiosk in flood-stricken Kayu Putih subdistrict in East Jakarta, waits for customers inside her kiosk on March 4. (JP/Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman)
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lobal beverage giant Coca Cola and Coca Cola Amatil Indonesia (CCAI) have launched a campaign alongside strategic business consultant Qasa and the University of Indonesia to provide online training for warung (food stall) and small retail shops that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coca Cola Indonesia spokesperson Trijono Prijosoesilo said on Monday the program, called Gerakan Toko Bersama (Cooperative Shop Movement), would empower stall and small retail shop owners by providing them with free online management-training courses.
“We are establishing a knowledge-sharing program to empower business owners and help them to grow,” he said during a livestreamed press conference.
The program’s website is currently providing free online training for food stall and shop owners on how to safely operate and interact with customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. It plans to expand the training into broader subjects, Trijono added.
Read also: SMEs switch to producing PPE to survive COVID-19 economic fallout
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), ranging from small shops and warung to distributors of consumer products, contribute more than 60 percent to Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP).
In April, the Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry reported that around 37,000 SMEs reported facing declining sales and trouble with distribution, among other problems, because of the pandemic.
Qasa’s managing director Joko Wiyono said the program aimed to train 500,000 food and retail SMEs operating in large cities.
“After the pandemic ends, Gerakan Toko Bersama will continue to develop warung and small retail shops by providing free business-management training and possibly help to connect them with financial institutions in the future,” Joko said.
“The program can become part of the solutions for warung to prepare themselves for the ‘new normal’ era,” Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Teten Masduki said in the event.
“I hope the program can also help digitize our SMEs so they can compete with modern retail shops,” he added.
Separately, ride-hailing application Gojek’s food delivery-service platform GoFood also promoted its initiatives to assist small food and beverage businesses by providing discount campaigns and “cloud kitchen” services.
GoFood’s cloud kitchen services, namely Dapur Bersama, was launched in November last year and currently has 27 kitchens in the Greater Jakarta area, Bandung in West Java and Medan in North Sumatra.
“Our cloud kitchen service helps cut down operational costs as we are the one who bears the initial capital expenditure by providing cooking equipment, including chiller, stoves and other tools,” Gojek chief food officer Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo said during an online press conference on Monday.
Read also: Start-ups help SMEs digitalize during pandemic
“We also use a profit-sharing scheme with our partners so [the culinary small businesses] don’t have to pay a monthly fixed cost,” she added.
The company will help MSMEs to survive the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by increasing their exposure, slashing operational costs and providing operational support through GoFood discount campaigns and the kitchen service.
“To help increase the exposure of our SME partners, we have launched the Harkulnas [National Culinary Day] campaign, which has successfully increased GoFood's service demand by 12 percent,” she said.
GoFood’s revenue increased by 20 percent over the last two months, while demand for the ready-to-cook meal delivery service also jumped threefold since the service was introduced last month, Catherine added.
