Semen Baturaja to Push for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’ Productivity amidst Covid-19 Pandemic

PALEMBANG – The Company of Semen Baturaja (SMBR), through the State-owned Business Enterprises’ Creative Workshop of Baturaja, is pushing for proprietors of small and medium businesses during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in order to help revive their productivity.

Small and Medium-sized enterprises has an important role within Indonesia’s economic cycle. During the middle of pandemic, a lot of business owners’ struggled as their revenue got affected negatively.

“We (Semen Baturaja) are doing our best to stimulate the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and also rekindling their spirit to help improve the economy”, as stated by the Vice President Corporate Secretary of SMBR, Basthony Santri.

Since 1991, SMBR has had committed to distribute partnership fund that could be used to fund many business proprietors. Until recently, there are already more than 2000 listed small and medium enterprises which have become the company’s development partners.

Semen Baturaja not only merely helps funding business; the company also routinely organized various management, creativity, and promotional training programs while actively socializing about how small and medium businesses should be capable of self-adjusting and become more responsive in looking up business opportunities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Through the Baturaja Creative Workshop, we are helping business owners to learn on how to make face masks; a commodity that is urgently demanded by society as of right now”, he added.

SMBR has also involved its development partners to produce non-medical cloth face masks which are donated to several Covid-19 Task Forces in their respective region, such as: Palembang city, Baturaja city, and the province of South Sumatra.

Other than that, other form of support that the company has provided to small and medium business owners is the organizing of various training programs through video conference in accordance to the Covid-19 standard health protocol. The training subject that was being taught is also appropriately fitting with the current situation, such as “Branding Amidst the Pandemic”, “Content Marketing Strategy”, “Copy Writing”, and “Financial Digital Reporting”.

SMBR through its Creative Workshop has also collaborated with the Indonesia’s Gapura Digital Google Team in holding a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) class for small and medium business owners that are listed as the company’s development partners. The class was held to help small and medium business owners in reporting any possible hindrances they encountered during the middle of Covid-19 pandemic while also providing ideas and advices to resolve problems faced by their fellow business companions with the help of a facilitator.

During this year (2020), SMBR also worked with the OKU GO Indonesia as one of its development partners in marketing its business products. OKU GO Indonesia is an application created by the young generations of South Sumatra that provides local bike transportation and food and beverage delivery service online. Due to Covid-19 pandemic that demands people to maintain Physical Distancing, the products of small and medium businesses that are also the development partners of Baturaja’s Creative House have been made easier to market and extend its sales territory.

Many efforts have been comprehensively done by SMBR in terms of funding, production, and product marketing to help push small and medium businesses’ productivity in order to guarantee the program’s success. “Our hope within this program is to resurrect the small and medium businesses and the economy of Indonesia” he noted lastly.