On 9 June 2020, the Government launched the Women’s Inclusive Finance National Strategy (Strategi Nasional Keuangan Inklusif-perempuan or SNKI-P), which aims to encourage financial access for Indonesian women by accommodating the various needs, interests, and backgrounds of women.
Teten Masduki, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs of the Republic of Indonesia explained, “Inclusion and financial access for women entrepreneurs must receive special attention. We do not want MSMEs to only fulfill household needs or act as a bumper for the national economy. Nowadays, the Government wants to help MSMEs rise, especially those led by women. We hope that through this program, we can collaborate in enhancing MSMEs’ access to finance, marketing channels, and human resources development.”
In his welcoming remarks, Ade Soekadis, Executive Director of Mercy Corps Indonesia said, “After successfully implementing various entrepreneurship programs that directly relate to MSMEs, Mercy Corps Indonesia and Citi Indonesia recognize that training and mentoring are very much needed by MSMEs, especially in terms of financial literacy for women entrepreneurs.”
“The aim is to not only to provide these women-owned businesses with the skills and knowledge to survive, but to also able to thrive in an all-digital era like today. Therefore, Mercy Corps Indonesia strives to continue to encourage MSMEs, especially women-led MSMEs to better understand financial literacy and able to obtain access to financial inclusion.”
CEO Citi Indonesia, Batara Sianturi stated, “We are proud to partner with Mercy Corps Indonesia through the SEED4Women program because this program can help women entrepreneurs take advantage of access to digital technology-based financial services to advance their businesses. This is also in line with Citi’s commitment to increasing financial inclusion and literacy in the communities in which we operate, as well as playing an active role in gender equality efforts.”
On the previous occasion, Citi Indonesia and Mercy Corps Indonesia have collaborated on the Global Community Day agenda entitled “Webinar Series Festival for Women-led Small Entrepreneurs.”
The activity, which was conducted on 10 June 2022, was held in hybrid (offline and online) simultaneously in 4 major cities, namely Malang, Bandung, Surabaya, and Solo. Meanwhile, on 13, 15, 17 June 2022, the Webinar Series Festival for Women-led Small Entrepreneurs was held online via Zoom and attended by participants from various cities, including Malang City and Regencies, Denpasar, Bandung, Bogor, Yogyakarta, Solo, Batam, Binjai, Kupang and Semarang.
Through these programs, it is hoped that Citi Indonesia and Mercy Corps Indonesia will be able to take an active role in advancing Indonesian MSMEs, especially women-led businesses, by increasing their access to digital financial services and digital assistance.
