Jakarta, 19 December 2021. PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL Axiata) through Sisternet held a "Smart Webinar Festival 2021" which is aimed at women, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This educational webinar with the theme "Inspiration for 2022 Business Opportunities Through Digital Optimization for Women MSMEs in order to Dare to be More Advanced” collaborates with the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) of the Republic of Indonesia and the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of the Republic of Indonesia.
The Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) of the Republic of Indonesia, Bintang Puspayoga said, "This pandemic period has not dampened the enthusiasm of women MSME actors to continue to survive, even develop. They continue to innovate, not only adapting the way of selling, but also market demand, even pioneering new market trends. With this extraordinary potential, "increase of women's empowerment in entrepreneurship from a gender perspective" is the upstream of the five priority directions of the President of the Republic of Indonesia to us until 2024. To ensure that women entrepreneurs are no longer left behind in the present but also in the post-pandemic period and beyond. We will continue to work on increasing capacity in business and digital literacy as well as opening access to capital.”
XL Axiata's President Director & CEO, Dian Siswarini said, "Optimization of digital technology use is really needed by MSMEs at this time, when digital transformation has begun to be implemented in almost all economic fields. MSME actors, including those managed by women, must be able to take advantage of this digitization momentum to increase the productivity for their potential.”
Dian Siswarini, added that digital technology will allow them to penetrate a wider market, which is almost impossible to reach if they are not online. Digital technology will also make it easier for them to promote products and services more massively through social media or marketplace platforms. In 2022, digitization will be more massive and reach a wider market. More and more consumers are searching for and buying products through digital sales channels.
Deputy for Gender Equality at the Ministry of PPPA, Lenny N. Rosalin, in the opening of the "Smart Webinar Festival 2021" said that the PPPA Ministry is always ready and collaborating to support entrepreneurial initiatives and business activities that are gender-based, digital-based, and sustainable. Such as the PPPA Ministry's collaboration with XL Axiata which has been proven useful in improving the status of women MSMEs.
"The PPPA Ministry is very open and will continue to advocate, disseminate, educate, train and assist digital economy and financial literacy for women in collaboration with the Financial and Monetary Authority, SOEs, banking, companies, and Ministries/Institutions, both in national and international forums, such as the Indonesian Presidency at the G20. In addition, the PPPA Ministry also encourages gender equality in all fields of development, especially in sectors related to women's empowerment in the economy through entrepreneurship with a gender perspective,” added Lenny.
Taking place from Saturday (18/12), webinar and talkshow classes with topics related to improving soft-skills in entrepreneurship in terms of gender, finance, digital and business trends in 2022. Attending this webinar, the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) Republic of Indonesia, Bintang Puspayoga, President Director & CEO of XL Axiata, Dian Siswarini, Lenny N Rosalin Deputy for Gender Equality at the Ministry of PPPA Republic of Indonesia, Entrepreneur, Dian Pelangi, Co-Founder & CEO of Investree, Adrian Gunadi and Zhafira Loebis Co-Founder of Babyloania.
Through a total of 13 classes, women managing MSMEs will receive material from resource persons from relevant ministries, professionals, figures, and successful MSME actors. They will help improve understanding of the picture and information related to the idea of promising business opportunities in 2022.
The Smart Webinar Festival was attended by at least 3,000 participants who were women entrepreneurs from all over Indonesia. They consist of the Sisternet community, Sispreneur participants, Dharma Wanita Persatuan, female MSMEs assisted by the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (Kemen PPPA) of the Republic of Indonesia and the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs of the Republic of Indonesia as well as the public. This event was supported by XL Axiata Business Solutions which introduced the BIZ On product, the only and the first prepaid starter pack in Indonesia that provides benefits in the form of direct cashback for Indonesian Women MSMEs. With the BIZ On product, communication and collaboration will be smoother to achieve business targets while sharing more benefits for all team members. Register team members and get gopay cashback for all. And with BIZ On, customers will get easy communication via unlimited calls to other XL and AXIS groups, including the available conference quota.
The businesses that the participants are engaged in include the F&B (Food and Beverages) business as well as the provision of content creation services for MSMEs.
MSMEs are the main joint of the Indonesian economy. There are more than 65 million MSME units that contribute to 6% of the national economy. As many as 64% of MSME actors in Indonesia are women. Therefore, empowering MSMEs also means empowering women. Moreover, MSMEs have also shown quite high resilience in the midst of a pandemic. According to data from the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, in July 2020, at least 10.2 million MSMEs in Indonesia have the potential to go online and become the engine of new economic growth.
Competition of “Smart Capital 2022”
In addition to the 2021 Smart Webinar Festival, as a sustainable program, Sisternet is also holding the "Smart Capital Competition 2022". This competition is in the form of a Business Incubation Class for 25 (twenty-five) participants for 1 (one) month where at the end of incubation, participants must make a business plan in 2022 and 10 selected candidates will proceed to the judging session during International Women's Day on March 8 2022. The competition can be participated by all Indonesian Women MSMEs only by submitting articles with the theme of the 2022 business plan through the Sisternet application or for further information, visit the @sisternetid Instagram account.
For the winners, there are prizes in the form of business capital worth a total of Rp. 150 million for 5 winners.
"This competition is at the same time a challenge for women entrepreneurs of SMEs to dare to be more advanced and realize their hopes in 2022. If they can achieve success next year, it means they will also be able to increase efforts to empower women economically, and also reduce the occurrence of violence against women," added Dian Siswarini.
Since its launch on April 23, 2015, Sisternet has now helped more than 40 thousand women. To continue to increase the value of benefits for Indonesian women, including women entrepreneurs of SMEs, Sisternet collaborates with various women's communities and organizations, as well as with many social activists in various regions. In addition, Sisternet also actively cooperates with a number of government agencies. In addition to the Ministry of PPPA, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration, and the Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, the Sisternet application as a digital solution for Indonesian MSMEs has also presented the latest learning on demand features called Smart Discussions & Smart Webinars, Smart Discussions, and Writing Sisters (Sister Menulis). These skills materials will make it easier for all Indonesian women to improve their skills to dare to “grade up” and become better. Sisternet application can be downloaded via Google Playstore and iOS AppStore.