Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) as a higher education institution with a community service mission has taken measures to serve, assist, and train MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) through various schemes.
In a workshop that brought together MSMEs in Grha Sabha Pramana UGM, Governor of Central Java province as well as Chairman of UGM Alumni Association (KAGAMA), Ganjar Pranowo, said UGM was ready to support the MSMEs in order that they can penetrate the international market.
The workshop was held from 16 – 18 October 2019 to celebrate the 14th Lustrum of UGM. It aims at giving inspiration for innovation in sustainable product development and business process and to build partnership networks to sustain the MSMEs.
In the event the Governor had talks with the business players to know the challenge in their business. A number of problems were mentioned, such as the need of the human resource, capital, and marketing problems. He said that the Government ought to know these problems to be able to help give solution and connect related groups for cooperation.
“Our main problem is that we don’t know valid data of what business is existing, what capacity, and what problems they face. If we can interpret this, as a government we can see they need to collaborate with whom and what to develop, and so on,” said the Governor on Thursday (17/10).
Vice-Rector of UGM for Cooperation and Alumni, Dr. Paripurna, S.H., M.Hum., LL.M., said UGM would utilise its neworks to bring together business players and investors or others that can support the MSMEs development.
“We will try to design a MSMEs hub. If there is a problem in marketing or capital, we will use our networks to develop the MSMEs in Indonesia,” he said.
Previously, UGM through its Community Service Directorate has done projects for MSMEs capacity improvement, for example through funding schemes cooperating with banks and CSR, establishment of counselling and service team, training in strategy and enhancement of MSMEs, and so on. In addition, UGM can serve as a connector between business players and Indonesian representative offices abroad, so the products from these SMES can be displayed at exhibitions abroad.