Collaborating with SIRCLO, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics Launches the Digital Technology Adoption 4.0 Program and Business Incubation for MSMEs

In order to increase access to marketing, efficiency and effectiveness of business operations, competitiveness and innovation as well as income for MSMEs, the government through the Ministry of Communication and Information launched the Digital Technology Adoption 4.0 Program and Business Incubation for MSMEs. The program, which was launched on Monday, 22 May 2023, collaborates with various Indonesian technology industry movers, one of which is SIRCLO. The launch was carried out in a hybrid mode and was attended by representatives from local governments, ministries/agencies, digital platforms, MSME facilitators, and MSME actors.

SIRCLO, through the SIRCLO Store service, will act as a catalyst for adopting technology 4.0 which will support MSME players to level up holistically. Through this program, it is hoped that it can optimize the potential and productivity of MSME Producers in the Manufacturing Sector so that they can increase domestic production, as well as increase export substitution values ​​and support the Proudly Made in Indonesia National Movement (Gernas BBI).

"The enormous potential of MSMEs must of course be supported by various industry drivers including technology companies such as SIRCLO, so that this industrial ecosystem can rise after the pandemic and continue to grow rapidly. Not only that, in the future a full commitment is still needed to support the growth of domestically made products for the sake of Indonesia's economic recovery. With the implementation of this program, we hope that MSME actors can get direct assistance and improve business performance by utilizing the convenience of digital services offered by SIRCLO." Said Ferry Tenka, CEO of Entrepreneur Solutions, SIRCLO optimistically.

The signing session of the Cooperation Agreement Facility for the Digital Technology Adoption 4.0 Program for MSMEs

The consistency of digital economic growth in Indonesia is of course inseparable from the role and contribution of MSME actors as the foundation of national GDP. The number of MSMEs in Indonesia, which has reached 64,2 million MSMEs, still needs assistance in utilizing digital technology. The government in this case is still continuing to provide assistance, one of which is through the newly launched Digital Technology Adoption 4.0 Program.

The Digital Technology Adoption 4.0 Program, also known as the “UMKM Level Up” program, will have two stages of activity, namely Digital Mentoring and Business Incubation. The first phase, Digital Mentoring activities are aimed at 20.000 MSME Processing Sector Producers in 15 Priority Areas by involving 110 mentoring facilitators for 6 months. These areas include North Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, Banten, DKI Jakarta, East Java, DI Yogyakarta & Central Java, North Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi, West Kalimantan, Papua and West Papua. The second stage, Business Incubation activities aimed at increasing the business capabilities of MSME actors, especially for the 100 MSMEs that already have digital capabilities in product marketing. This activity will involve 10 coaches and several competent mentors to provide business consulting to MSME actors.

Registration for this program has been open since May 2, 2023 and the registration process can be done via the link https://umkmlevelup.id/penregistran. At the registration stage, MSMEs need to fill in an email, business profile, digital technology adoption level assessment questionnaire and express a willingness to participate in mentoring activities for 6 (six) months.

The digital technology adoption level assessment questionnaire will be divided into 4 (four) levels namely Beginners, Observers, Adopters, and leaders. In level Beginner, MSMEs will be introduced to procedures for using social media properly. Then on the level Observer, MSMEs are introduced to online marketplace channels. In level Adopt, MSMEs will be taught how to use fintech platforms, aggregators and systems point of sales (Post). final Level, leaders, consists of businesses that have been managed in a modern way and have a higher level of technology adoption and knowledge, by using Big Data 3D modeling, QR Code, Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality .

MSMEs participating will receive intensive assistance for 6 (six) months from the facilitator, data packages, free assistance from various digital platforms, marketplace ads promotions for the best 8.000 MSMEs, access to digital technology and business materials, and e-certificates for participants who take part. program to the end.

For digital platform assistance, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics has signed a Cooperation Agreement with several digital platform providers in Indonesia which include; application social commerce, e-commerce, financial technology (fintech), Point of Sales System (PoS), and digital 4.0 technologies incl Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, and others.

This is what makes the difference between this year's MSME mentoring program and the previous year, namely with the existence of business incubation activities for the 100 Top MSMEs assisted by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics which intensively provide business assistance covering the fields of; business model canvas (systematic business model design), product development, strategy digital marketing, branding and product design, copywriting (compilation of advertising scripts for commercial purposes), financial and non-financial, and others.

It is hoped that the Level Up MSME program can synergize well and get support from other ministries or agencies as well as local governments, as well as take place in a sustainable and sustainable manner in order to realize "Indonesia is Connected, more digital, more advanced".