Sunday, 7 July 2013

CREATIVE PRODUCTS BECOME THE MAINSTAY OF SMALL INDUSTRIES



The ministry of industry believes that the economic and industrial development strategy in Indonesia is focused on the development of creative industries. The future of the creative industries is quite promising and can be a high source of economy because it has a content of ideas, art, innovation, technology, intellectual property and has a great potential. Creative industries can play a role as a creator of value and can provide added value. Creative industry is generally a medium-scale creative industry and Indonesia has 3.9 million business units, and it is proven resilient in facing the effects of the world’s economic crisis.

Director General of Small and Medium Industries (SMI) of the ministry of industry, Euis Saedah, in Jakarta on Tuesday (4/15), said that products of the creative industries will become a mainstay of SME’s because Indonesia has produced many unique items. To improve the quality of the product, according to Euis, revamping of product standard, especially jewelry products, needs to be done. In Indonesia, jewelry products made of metal, gold, silver, or stones do not have a fixed standard size, whereas to facilitate transactions with foreign parties, there should be a standard size. “We are confident that the product of the creative industries will become a mainstay of exports of SMEs”, she said.

Currently, the government will make improvements in order to increase the competitiveness of small and medium businesses. According to her, SMEs’ products should be integrated and not separated so that the production is carried out more efficiently. Innovation is also necessary to get the products liked by the public, such as fashion products from West Sumatra, and some regions have been set up as a production base of SMEs, such as West Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Central Java, West Java and Yogyakarta, as well as those who will be the driving force of SMEs in other areas.

During this time, the majority of small and medium creative industries are concentrated in Java. In fact, outside Java, the potential of SMEs is very large, especially for creative products. An establishment of production bases outside Java is very important. One of the obstacles encountered in achieving high growth is difficulty of raw materials, especially for textile product (TPT) industry.

As a basis for the development of creative industries in Indonesia, people are required to explore and develop the uniqueness of the local culture. Creative industry is one sector that continues to be encouraged to enter the ASEAN economic community. It said that the creative industries can produce unique products with high artistic value and can compete in the market. In addition, the creative industry can absorb a lot of workers.

Euis considered that SMEs in Indonesia are proven resilient because it does not depend on foreign debts. Do not have a lot of non-performing loan problems with the banks, it uses local input and is export oriented. When the financial crisis occurred, the creative industries driven by SMEs are not affected. Government’s commitment to build creative economy is to increase to income and standard of living of the society. Until now, the government continues to support SMEs to improve the competitiveness of the products produced.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
The government provides loans through micro credit (KUR) scheme, increase of technological capabilities through restructuring and revalorization of machinery and equipment, increase of the ability of human resources (HR) through training, facilitation and mentoring, and quality assurance systems and food security in order to improve market access. He added that increase in creativity and design is the decisive factor in improving the competition, businesses must always be creative, rich of ideas, and able to create new products. (E) 
 

Business News - May 17,2013 

No comments: