Business Management & Market Access Development

Germany-based organisation German Technical Assistance Agency for Development or GTZ cooperated with Pekerti in 2007 to give training, mentoring and guidance for market access development to earthquake victims in Yogyakarta and Klaten. The target producers were batik, wooden furniture producers, silk weavers and home industry. This training was given in order to assist earthquake-affected communities in central Java. Therefore, Regional Economic Development (RED) of GTZ collaborated with Pekerti Foundation to hold a program of economic recovery that focused on aid for small and medium businesses in earthquake-effected regions.

Training in these areas was carried out in two stages:

Stage 1 (February-August)

In this stage, this program assisted 72 small and medium-scale businesses in Jarum Village, Klaten; Sanggrahan, Bantul; and Gemahan, Bantul regions.

In this stage the program structures support activities in five main areas – business group management improvement, business group management skills, product development, product quality and market access. The locations and numbers of beneficiaries are 20 snack producers in Klaten, 19 batik producers in Klaten, nine furniture producers in Klaten, 14 snack producers in Sanggrahan, Bantul and 10 roof tile producers in Gemahan. The snack producers alone went from sales of 20 packets per day to 200 per group with Pekerti’s marketing training.

Stage 2 (September – December)

The program structures support activities in six main areas, namely micro, small and medium enterprise recovery, product quality improvement, product diversification, business linkage extension, access to credit schemes through business group management training, and business support. The locations and numbers of beneficiaries were 11 wooden batik producers in Kembangsongo, 20 furniture producers in Tegal Krapyak, nine silver producers in Kota Gede, and seven bag producers in Patalan.

Before the program most of the workers would work based on purchase order from their employers or intermediaries. They were experts in producing high quality products, but they were highly dependent on others to sell their products. Producers did not know how to properly run their business, with no capital support, market knowledge or business skills.

At the completion of the program, producers’ motivation to run their own businesses had improved, which was reflected in their willingness to write business plans and create product samples, which were late promoted by Pekerti.

 Since first carrying out an independent production process producers continue to face difficulties in developing products independently of large orders. Therefore, continuous assistance is available to these independent producer groups. The assistance can be given concerning business management, production, marketing and capital access, enabling them to fulfill their requirements for working capital.