See also the impact of Tokopedia’s women's empowerment efforts and how the women-owned MSME 'Blooming Seven' empowers local farmers!
Indonesia, 12 July 2023 - Tokopedia collaborates with the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia (KemenPPPA RI) and UPRINTIS (women MSMEs empowerment community) to launch the ‘Modul Perempuan Maju Digital’. This module aims to empower women entrepreneurs in the MSME sector to start and grow their businesses online.
Head of Public Policy and Government Relations Tokopedia, Hilmi Adrianto, said, “The role of women-owned MSMEs is essential for the national economy. Based on the government’s data, out of the 65.5 million MSMEs that support Indonesia’s GDP, 64 million are micro-businesses and more than half of them are owned by women. Women run 34% medium, 50.6% small, and 52.9% micro businesses.”*
"Seeing the role and potential of women MSME entrepreneurs, as an Indonesian technology company with a marketplace consisting of more than 14 million sellers and almost 100% of them MSMEs, Tokopedia continues to empower women MSME entrepreneurs in gaining more recognition and become Indonesia’s first choice. Thus, Tokopedia is collaborating with KemenPPPA RI to launch ‘Modul Perempuan Maju Digital’," added Hilmi.
The Minister of PPPA RI, Bintang Puspayoga, said that empowering women entrepreneurship with a gender perspective is one of the prioritized agendas mandated by the President of the Republic of Indonesia. This is because equal participation of women and men is the key to the nation’s welfare. In February 2023, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded that the Labor Force Participation Rate (TPAK) for women reached 54.4%, while men reached 83.98%. This shows how women’s work participation needs to be increased through economic empowerment.
“There are 64 million micro businesses in Indonesia, with more than half or 60% owned and managed by women. This means that women are the backbone of the national economy. We need to collaborate to empower more participation of women in the national economy, one of which is through the use of digital," said Minister Bintang.
Support from various parties remains critical. Hence, KemenPPPA RI appreciates Tokopedia's efforts in empowering progress for women entrepreneurs and ensuring their participation in driving an inclusive national economy, specifically in the use and access of digital. The Minister of PPPA RI also hopes that the launch of ‘Modul Perempuan Maju Digital’ will help to alleviate the challenges of digital access for women entrepreneurs in Indonesia.
“Digital economy is the future. We hope that the launch of this module will help improve women entrepreneurs' digital skills so they can be empowered to the fullest. Let's unite to support, share, inspire, and motivate each other. By empowering one another, women entrepreneurs can propel the progress of Indonesia Maju," said Minister Bintang.
Founder of UPRINTIS Indonesia, Novita Hardini, said, "Women entrepreneurs face various challenges, from increasing family income, limited entrepreneurship training, independence in making business decisions, managing financial records, scaling their business, and many more. We hope that the collaboration between Tokopedia and UPRINTIS through ‘Modul Perempuan Maju Digital’ will assist women entrepreneurs overcome these challenges.” Novita continued, “Women's struggle for true independence is not easy, the only way to achieve this is by continuing to improve one’s skills, especially entrepreneurial skills. Women's economic growth is UPRINTIS Indonesia's big goal.”
‘Modul Perempuan Maju Digital’ and Tokopedia's Other Efforts for Women Empowerment
‘Modul Perempuan Maju Digital’ consists of a variety of topics, resulting from the collaboration between Tokopedia, KemenPPPA RI, and UPRINTIS. From the ten initial steps to empower women's businesses, the use of e-commerce to make women successful in the digital economy, how to advance women's businesses, to what must be prepared to become a woman entrepreneur in the digital era.
‘Modul Perempuan Maju Digital’ can be accessed for free through Tokopedia’s Pusat Edukasi Seller. This module is also socialized to women MSME entrepreneurs through Digital Advanced Women Classes (KPMD), which are routinely held in various regions in Indonesia.
“KPMD is part of Tokopedia’s Hyperlocal initiative, a set of initiatives aimed at increasing the competitiveness of MSME entrepreneurs to have equal opportunities to grow and scale their businesses without having to move to the capital city. In KPMD, Tokopedia join hands with the provincial and city governments to provide special offline education for women-owned MSMEs in various regions, such as Medan, Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang, Solo, Yogyakarta, and Bali, and will continue to expand to other cities," said Hilmi.
Besides KPMD, Tokopedia and the government continues to empower women by helping women MSMEs obtain business licenses or Nomor Induk Berusaha (NIB) online. "Throughout 2022, Tokopedia and the government have helped more than 5,000 MSME entrepreneurs, including women, register for NIB," said Hilmi. There is also a Bangga Lokal feature on Tokopedia's main page, which contains products from MSMEs, including those run by women, and an effort to support the Bangga Buatan Indonesia (BBI) national movement.
Number of Female Sellers and Buyers on Tokopedia Soars, Research: 58.7% of Workers Employed by Tokopedia Sellers are Women
Through Tokopedia's joint efforts to empower women with its strategic partners, women's interest in starting and growing a business on Tokopedia continues to increase. "Tanjung Pinang (Riau Archipelago), Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), and Gianyar (Bali) are regions in Indonesia with the highest increase in the number of female sellers during the first semester of 2023 compared to the first semester of 2022, with an average increase of nearly 1.5 times”, said Hilmi.
LPEM FEB UI 2023 research reveals that sellers on Tokopedia have an average of two workers and more than half (58.47%) of the workers employed are women.
In addition to the impact on women-owned MSMEs, Tokopedia also recorded high enthusiasm of women in shopping online and driving the wheels of the economy. "Kampar (Riau), Sampang (East Java), and West Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara) are areas in Indonesia with the highest increase in the number of female buyers during the first semester of 2023 compared to the first semester of 2022, with an average increase of almost two-fold”, said Hilmi.
Women MSME Entrepreneurs on Tokopedia 'Blooming Seven' Employs Local Farmers
Sukma Maharani's business, Blooming Seven, was founded at the start of the pandemic. At that time, Sukma regularly consumed and sent honey which she obtained from honey farmers and their families, to her closest friends who suffered from COVID-19. “I always thought how local honey could benefit more people. Eventually, I opened a shop on Tokopedia in August 2020 and got serious about the business," explained Sukma.
"In our business operations, Blooming Seven employs female employees and ten farmers in Central and West Java. We produce and market 100% pure quality honey without mixing, heating, or coagulation processes," added Sukma.
Blooming Seven continues to innovate products. In addition to selling pure honey, Blooming Seven also markets juices, coconut oil, artisan teas, cooking spices, and hampers for various events. "Tokopedia is the main digital channel for Blooming Seven. Our monthly revenue through Tokopedia can reach IDR 50 million,” concluded Sukma.
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About Tokopedia
Tokopedia, as an Indonesian technology company, has a mission to democratize commerce through technology. Tokopedia’s vision is to build a Super Ecosystem where anyone can start and discover anything. To this day, Tokopedia has empowered millions of merchants and users across the marketplace and digital goods, financial technology and payment, logistics and fulfillment, including Mitra Tokopedia. Tokopedia is part of the GoTo Group, the largest digital ecosystem in Indonesia, consisting of Gojek, Tokopedia and GoTo Financial.
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