Google Together with Kemenkop UKM Launches #Digital Change Program in 10 Provinces

Welcome National MSME Day 2022 which falls on August 12, 2022, Google launches the program #ChangeDigital the result of collaboration with the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (Kemenkop UKM). Through the #BerubahDigital program, Google and the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs will conduct training with training modules based on the Grow with Google program for small and medium-scale entrepreneurs in ten Indonesian provinces over the next six months.

This program is also in line with the Kemenkop target which digitizing 30 million SMEs by 2024.

"Through a collaborative initiative with Google, we seek to provide assistance to cooperatives, MSMEs, and entrepreneurs through the #BerubahDigital program in ten provinces in Indonesia in order to find more customers in the country and even to Southeast Asia. Kemenkop UKM is committed to helping more SMEs go digital by strengthening the realization of entrepreneurship that is adaptive, innovative, and sustainable. We hope that through activities such as Grow with Google, can accelerate our economic recovery and be the start of sustainable collaboration," he said Siti Azizah, Deputy for Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, at the Grow with Google Media Briefing event entitled "National MSME Day 2022".

The ten provinces that are part of the training program include Aceh, West Sumatra, North Sumatra, East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, West Java, East Nusa Tenggara, West Kalimantan, and South Sulawesi. Then, the training that will be provided includes content strategy training and training digital marketing, how to prepare E-commerce, how to stay safe when online, and how businesses can appear in Google Search and Google Maps.

At the same event, Dora Songco, Google Indonesia Product Marketing Manager, also shared the results of research conducted by Kantar regarding Grow with Google programs.

Since 2015, Google has trained more than two million SME owners through various Grow with Google training programs in collaboration with a number of ministries. Some of them are the 'Digital Entrepreneurship Academy' program with the Ministry of Communication and Information, the 'Digital Gapura' program with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, and the 'Support East Indonesia SMEs' program with the Ministry of Trade.

Then, Kantar conducted a survey of 707 business owners who participated in the Grow with Google program, the results of which were released today (11/8/2022) and summarized into three key takeaways:

• One in three SMEs start selling online after attending the course
• One in two SMEs succeed Upgrade engagement customers after applying the learning outcomes from the Gapura Digital & Women Will training
• One in two women-owned SMEs have created or updated their online business profile (this number is far more than men) and are actively creating online content to promote their business on the internet.

In addition, many interesting facts were obtained by Google from the results of the Kantar survey, including:

• SMEs in Indonesia join this program to learn how to reach more customers online and how to grow their business.
• SMEs who take part in Gapura Digital or Women Will training feel more confident when using online technology.
• Digital Entrepreneurship Academy (DEA) from Kemenkominfo managed to attract the interest of SMEs who want to develop their business strategy. 

One of the alumni of the Digital Entrepreneurship Academy, Cholifatus Eka Rahayu, also attended the event and shared his experiences in developing business strategies which he learned from the DEA program.

"Through DEA ​​by Google, I learned to market Kaifa online, especially by using the product Google My Business. Where the guardians of students in my neighborhood tend to find the best tutoring closest to their homes by way of Browsing or via Google Maps. After implementing these efforts, in this new semester the number of younger siblings studying with Kaifa increased by more than fifty percent, "said the owner of the UKM. Kaifa's Study Friend in Blitar, who is familiarly called Ifa.

Even though it's not even a year old, Kaifa's Study Friends have increased the number of students by more than 50% and now there are nine employees who assist Ifa in managing Kaifa's Study Friends.

Previously, Ifa admitted, he had failed to build a business. However, he did not give up there. Ifa got back up to build Kaifa's Study Friends business with the knowledge she got from the DEA program.

“If you fail, try to learn other business patterns. If it fails, that's okay. That means we have already tried," he said when asked to give a message to other MSME partners.

Ifa is one of the many participants in the Grow with Google training program who have successfully grown their business. Through the latest program #BerubahDigital, the result of Google's collaboration with the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, it is hoped that it will produce more successful MSMEs build digital presence and digitalgrowth they are like Ifa.