HI Empowers Micro-Entrepreneurs at Kampung Gasong

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises or commonly abbreviated as MSMEs are one of the business sectors that have an important role for economic growth in Indonesia (Maharani, Ali, and Astuti (2012) cited in Wardhana, A. 2015).

Supported by the large contribution of GDP of around 63.58%, its ability to absorb labor by 99.45% or the number of business units involved which is about 99.84% of all existing business units, the total share is quite significant, reaching 18, 72% (in Niode, I. Y. 2009).
Seeing the large role of MSMEs for Indonesia’s economic growth, this has attracted the attention of the government in providing development strategies and policies related to the development of MSMEs in Indonesia. Establishment of the Office of the State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises is an example of the Government’s contribution to the development of MSMEs.
Although there has been direct involvement by the government in providing MSME development strategies in Indonesia, this has not been able to answer the community’s problems in developing their business. So this provides challenges and problems for MSME actors in developing their business. A literature study conducted by Niode, I. Y. (2009) found that the problems for MSME actors according to Pramiyanti (2008) are divided into 2 aspects, namely financial and non-financial.

Financial factors are among difficulty in accessing capital, lack of managerial ability, long-term system planning, adequate accounting system, capital requirements budget, organizational and financial structure, while non-financial factors are lack of knowledge of technological developments, marketing, and human resources and business licensing. These problems and challenges can be stated by the BPS data stating that MSME actors who depend on their own capital are 73%. The high number of MSME actors who depend on their own capital shows the importance of capital, managerial and financial capabilities.

Community Independent Business Group Program

Human Initiative as a CSO that takes an active role in supporting every government policy has the initiative to participate in the national economic recovery through strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Through the Community Independent Business Group (KUMM) Program, micro-entrepreneurs get entrepreneurial capacity building, revolving capital assistance, and business coaching.

One of the target areas of the KUMM program is Kampung Gasong. Administratively, Kp. Gasong named after Kp. Gasong Shelter by the Head of Setiabudi, South Jakarta. The name “reservation” is associated with the existence of a village which is only to accommodate temporary residents before being relocated. The number of family head in Kp. Gasong is 120 families with a total of approximately 1500 people. There are approximately 70 dwellings in this village after the evictions in 2016. There are several RT and 1 RW in Kp. Gasong Shelter, namely RT 14 (location of YOI Skul), RT 05, RT 06, RT 02. Meanwhile, this village belongs to RW 09, Menteng Atas Village.

This village has been evicted twice, namely in 2010 and 2016. There was another eviction in 2017, the plan is that the residents of Kp. Gasong will be moved to rented apartment (Rusunawa) in Rawa Bebek. But the residents refused because it was not strategic to make a living. 80% of the people of Kp. Gasong is a scavenger. The rest are working in other informal sectors such as drivers and traders. The income from the residents who become scavengers fluctuates, in average they earn 1-1.5 million per month.

Positive Impact of KUMM Program

In 2021, Human Initiative and YBM PLN launched the KUMM Program for 20 underprivileged families in the area. The program began with business motivation training for 20 beneficiaries to have the right mindset as business actors. After that, all beneficiaries attended a business planning workshop. The beneficiaries were facilitated to understand and be able to make a business planning model canvas (BMC) with its 9 elements. After that, the participants made a financial plan to determine the Cost of Production (HPP) of the business they were running.
After the workshop, the BMC and HPP plans that have been prepared continued to be verified until they were deemed feasible. The BMC and HPP documents made by the participants are a requirement for the feasibility assessment of venture capital assistance. This is done to ensure that the business capital provided has a clear planning direction. After giving the capital, the facilitator accompanies the capital expenditure process to avoid mismatches in the use of the given business capital. The amount of business capital provided is 5 million per business actor. The business capital is provided in 2 stages, namely asset capital in the first stage and consumables capital in the second stage.

After providing the capital, the beneficiaries participated in business mentoring once a month for 8 months and received intense mentoring every week by the program facilitator. The business mentoring material is about production management and financial management, not only business finances but also household finances.

At the beginning of the program intervention, as many as 78% of program beneficiaries only earned under 1.2 million per month. After 10 months of program intervention, 50% of the beneficiaries earn more than 2.9 million, even 8% of them earn more than 4.9 million. While the other 36% earn between 1.2 million to 2.9 million per month.

One of the beneficiaries of the successful program is Mrs. Sri Hartati. Previously, she had been selling groceries in Gasong Village. Initially, the shop was only filled with daily necessities. But now the stall has grown with children’s snacks such as fried meatballs, fried sausages and others.

The KUMM program has succeeded in increasing the income of 70% of program beneficiaries. Good management of household finances and business finances is the key to the success of the beneficiaries in increasing their income. Discipline in doing business financial records has the most influence in ensuring that their business runs well and even grows. Meanwhile, their discipline in managing household finances makes them able to reduce the amount of debt they have and even have savings for their children’s educational needs.

Data Source: Internal Project Human Initiative