Jakarta, April 6 2022 – KoinWorks, the one-stop-shop for Indonesian SMEs, has launched the Digital SME Confidence Index Report. “Moving Forward: How SMEs Grow Strong in the Post Pandemic Era”, the launch event was attended by Gede Edy Prasetya (Assistant Deputy for Capital Markets and Financial Institutions of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs), Benedicto Haryono (CEO and Co-Founder of KoinWorks), Mark Bruny (Chief Financial Officer of KoinWorks), and Julia RGDS (social media influencer, actor, business owner).
The Digital SME Confidence Index Report itself is a regular mid-year report released by KoinWorks to highlight the growth and development of SMEs. KoinWorks conducted a survey of more than 2,000 SMEs spread across 34 provinces in Indonesia. Participating SMEs were divided into 7 regional categories in Indonesia: Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, Java, Bali – Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Maluku – Papua. Insights regarding their business performance during the pandemic, including sales, business growth, supply chain, business operations, capital, and business innovation were factored in as data points for research.
The research results show that, compared to the first half of 2021, the digital SME confidence index increased by 6%, from 2.49 to 2.64. This indicates that the business climate in Indonesia is getting better. In addition, as the impact of the pandemic receded, offline businesses began to regain popularity. In fact, businesses with offline sales had the highest sales with an increase of 44% in the second half of 2021 compared to sales of online businesses or hybrid businesses, which only increased by 38.2% and 41.9%, respectively. Research showed that SMEs have the ability to map challenges that they may face in the future by accounting experiences during the pandemic.
The condition of Indonesian SMEs in mid-2021 will begin to run normally as the impact of the pandemic gradually subsides, and as the general public will enter the post-pandemic era. The year 2021 is still considered a breath of fresh air for SMEs as few important players received positive results from the hybrid channels they used in early 2021. The Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs also noted that another impact of the pandemic was the shifting of people’s consumption patterns towards digital, thus generating the right momentum to accelerate digital transformation for SMEs.
Gede Edy Prastya, Assistant Deputy for Capital Markets and Financial Institutions of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, further shared the government’s plans to encourage the growth of SMEs for 2022. “By addressing the challenges and needs of SMEs in this era, strengthening sustainable collaboration with various parties, including the private sectors will provide the support SMEs need. The goal is for SMEs not only to grow and return to their pre-pandemic state, but also, be highly competitive in the future. In addition, ongoing assistance programs will continue to ensure equitable coverage for SMEs throughout Indonesia,” he said.
Julia also agrees with the importance of digital transformation to survive the pandemic. Good use of digital channels will be the key to the success of SMEs in dealing with the pandemic. “SMEs in Indonesia are very unique and on average they have adapted by using digital channels for marketing. Furthermore, what needs to be improved is how these channels can be used to analyze what our consumers are like, how the competitors sell and finally we know what innovations should be created in the future in order to survive in the business,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mark Bruny emphasized the role of KoinWorks as a financial partner for SMEs to grow. “As part of KoinWorks contribution to SMEs in Indonesia, KoinWorks compiles this report twice a year, and we are proud of the results obtained in semester 2 of 2021. KoinWorks is always here for SMEs not only for easily accessible business financing, but also as a financial partner for business growth. Therefore, we continue to develop an increasingly comprehensive SME ecosystem and financial services for Indonesian SMEs,” said Mark.
KoinWorks will continue to strive to support SMEs by finalizing KoinWorks NEO which will soon be available for SMEs. In this month of Ramadan, KoinWorks launched #BenahiDiri campaign which aims to encourage the growth of SMEs. KoinWorks invites all users and the public to participate, considering this is the right momentum to improve Indonesia’s economic growth in accordance with KoinWorks’ dream for anyone to be able to realize their financial dreams.
The Digital SME Confidence Index Report 2nd Half 2021 can be downloaded via bit.ly/DigitalSMEReport2021Semester2. We hope this report can be useful for business actors and stakeholders to determine the steps for developing Indonesian SMEs, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
