Pt. Iforte Solusi Infotek once again held an online webinar on September 16, 2021 with the theme of "The Rise of Indonesian Creative SMEs (Small-to-Medium Enterprises)". This webinar marks the fifth of Iforte’s webinar series, which was last broadcasted on August 5, 2021 with the theme of "Becoming a Cool Teacher In the Era of Online Learning”.

This webinar presented three speakers and was moderated by nationally-recognized news anchor Senandung Nacita. The first speaker, Destry Anna Sari (Assistant Deputy for Business Consulting and Mentoring at the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs), presented an overview of the current state of SMEs within the country with the title "Young Entrepreneurs as Future SMEs". Meanwhile, the second speaker, Selliane Ishak (Director of Digital Economy Governance, Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy), gave a presentation explaining the potential for digitalization within Indonesian SMEs with the title "The Awakening of Creative Economy Actors". The penultimate speaker for the webinar, Daniel Cahyadi (COO and Co-Founder Wahyoo) gave a presentation on the role of digital business entities such as Wahyoo in developing SMEs in the country with the title "Wahyoo: The Awakening of Indonesian Creative SMEs".

The event was opened with remarks from Mr. Rony Ardhitia, Vice President Director of Technology and Operations at Iforte. In his speech, Mr. Roni expressed how this webinar presented a great opportunity for audiences to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to create a more productive, efficient, and strong business ecosystem in Indonesia. The webinar was then followed by the presentation of materials prepared by the participating speakers.

Destry Anna Sari’s presentation began with a brief explanation of the current condition and contribution of SMEs within the Indonesian economy. According to Sari, despite the relatively minimal contribution of local SMEs to the Indonesian economy when compared to similar businesses abroad, they have a large potential to become important cornerstones, allowing for the creation of jobs, economic growth and poverty reduction. Finally, she elaborated about the details of the Ministry’s Collaborative Program in Improving Entrepreneurship Ratio, designed at introducing more businesses into the digital fold.

The second presentation was delivered by Selliane Ishak, who began with an overview of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Indonesia's creative sector. Ishak stated how although many businesses within the sector have been negatively affected by the pandemic, enterprises already operating within digital channels had experienced tremendous growth and developments within the same time period. According to Ishak, this shows how pivoting one’s business to the digital economy can be greatly beneficial for SMEs as it can overcome obstacles brought upon by the pandemic. Currently, only 37% of the Indonesian creative sector have attempted to pivot their businesses towards a digital platform; with Ishak expressing the centrality of the pandemic as the perfect opportunity for SMEs wishing to develop their digital presence. She concluded the presentation by explaining the various initiatives and assistance that the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy can provide for businesses wishing to enroll within the Ministry’s digitization initiative.

The last speaker, Daniel Cahyadi, explained the role of digital businesses in helping to support the development of local MSMEs via his presentation “Wahyoo: The Awakening of Indonesian Creative SMEs”. He started by explaining how for the majority of Indonesian MSMEs accessing financial services such as bank loans and grants can be extremely difficult. This has prevented many entrepreneurs from initiating their business ideas due to being unable to obtain the appropriate funds. Daniel went on to explain how this could be overcome by shifting businesses to digital platforms, as they can circumnavigate many of the logistical problems present within traditional enterprises. He then explained how platforms like Wahyoo help MSMEs to digitally pivot in a sustainable manner via monetary loans, training and support.

The webinar was followed by a question and answer session that lasted until the end of the event, where the webinar was closed with an announcement introducing Iforte’s “Ifortepreneur 4.0” business competition event; delivered by Mr. Victor Sihombing, Iforte’s head of Marketing Communications.

You can watch the full webinar on the Iforte’s official Youtube channel.