Super-app Players Compete to Present New Initiatives to Digitize Indonesian MSMEs

After the formation of GoTo and the strategic partnership between Grab, Bukalapak, and Emtek, Indonesian technology giants are now competing to digitize micro and small businesses.

Grab, Bukalapak, and media conglomerate Emtek Group have launched an accelerator program called City of the Future, the companies announced on Thursday. This program targets micro, small and medium enterprises from tier-2 and tier-3 cities in Indonesia.

Future City has three priorities—onboarding businesses to the platform Grab and Bukalapak, empowering companies through training and mentoring sessions, and providing vaccinations to MSME employees. The business unit will also gain exposure from the Emtek Group's media network, including television channels SCTV and Indosiar, as well as video streaming platform Vidio.

This program aims to reach 10.000 MSMEs by the end of December 2021 in areas such as Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Solo in Central Java, Gowa in South Sulawesi, Malang in East Java, and Pekanbaru in Riau.

Grab, Emtek, and Bukalapak have deepened their business relationship over the last few months. In April, a few days after Grab announce SPAC merger with Altimeter Growth Corporation, the Singapore-based company reportedly spent IDR 4 trillion (USD 274 million) to buy a 4% stake in Emtek. In May, Emtek acquired a minority stake (2,59%) in the unit Grab in Indonesia, and then in June, Emtek injected IDR 3,09 trillion (USD 210 million) of additional capital. Currently, Emtek owns 5,88% of the shares Grab. Emtek is also the largest shareholder in Bukalapak.

Platforms in the ecosystem Grab and Bukalapak available for MSMEs, among others Grabfood, GrabMarts, and marketplace Bukalapak. Grab also runs a program called GrabKiosks to digitize neighborhood shops. This platform has partnered with more than 2 million agents. At the same time, Bukalapak is aggressively developing a similar O2O initiative called Mitra Bukalapak, which already has around 8,7 million agents.

Meanwhile, GoTo has launch its own program called BangkitBersama (“rise together”) to assist local MSMEs in the process of going digital. This program has several focuses. It seeks to increase MSME exposure on Tokopedia through a hyperlocal approach that involves geotagging. In addition, this initiative also aims to empower MSMEs through a series of online and offline business classes, and help e-commerce sellers to expand their reach through service platforms. fulfillment Branch Store.

MSMEs in the GoTo ecosystem can access various platforms such as GoFood, GoShop, and the Tokopedia marketplace. In the O2O space, the group has Tokopedia Partners, which was launched in 2018, and GoToko, an initiative launched last year. GoTo also has an e-commerce enabler called GoStore which helps MSMEs create online stores. Thanks to investments from Facebook last year, merchants on the GoStore were able to integrate their online shop with Facebook Shop and Instagram Shopping. The group has combined 11 million trading partners as of December 2020.

Services for MSMEs in Indonesia's super-app

Currently there are approx 64,2 million MSMEs in Indonesia. These businesses absorb about 97% of the total workforce and contribute about 61% of the country's gross domestic product, according to Indonesia's Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs.

Digitizing MSMEs is becoming increasingly important to enable these businesses to reach a wider consumer base, expand their business, and gain access to finance. For tech giants, MSMEs can bring more customers into their ecosystem, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, where they live 100 million next internet user.

-This article was first released by KRASIA. Re-released in Indonesian as part of the collaboration with DailySocial