Batu, 9 March 2022. Women20 (W20) held a second meeting with the concept of Online and Offline (Hybrid) for two days (8-9 March 2022) in Batu City, East Java with a focus on the second priority issue of several other priority issues, namely "Women's MSMEs: The Key to Inclusive Growth". This second meeting also coincided with the commemoration of "International Women’s Day". The second meeting will discuss several important issues related to the importance of MSMEs in getting access to financial services and the use of digital technology so that they become the driving force of the global economy.
The 2nd side event was held in two days. At the opening of the event, the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia (Minister of PPPA), Bintang Puspayoga expressed her appreciation for the commitment of Women 20 (W20) Indonesia in an effort to improve the status of women globally, especially in the context of socio-economic recovery in the scope of the Group of Twenty (G20) that affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Minister of PPPA stated that the Indonesian government will continue to expand opportunities to increase financial access to MSMEs, especially women. “As a form of the Government of Indonesia's full and continuous attention in supporting MSMEs and achieving gender equality, KemenPPPA has a commitment that is in line with the 5 (five) priorities directed by President Joko Widodo, namely increasing women's empowerment in entrepreneurship with a gender perspective. This commitment puts women's economic empowerment at the forefront because women's economic resilience is not only about livelihoods but is also one of the keys to protecting and fulfilling women's basic rights," said the Minister of PPPA.
The event on the first day was opened with the celebration of International Women's Day by showing concrete actions from Women20 in encouraging women's empowerment, first, W20 Italy and Indonesia initiated a form of cooperation between MSMEs as the W20 Initiative, where this program is in line with the priority issues of W20 and the embodiment of W20 commitments related to MSMEs. In the near future this initiative will be continued in the form of an MoU between the cities of Milan and Garut for the development of MSMEs in leather craft. With the initiative that has been carried out, it is hoped that in the future the scope of cooperation between MSMEs from various countries, both G20 members and countries in the world can be expanded.
Second, the W20 Sispreneur program for MSMEs initiated by XL Axiata through the Sisternet program will take place from 8 March to 19 July 2022. This program is in the form of incubation, during which participants who pass the selection will be given 4 training classes, namely market segmentation & product innovation, digital financial literacy, business and content planning and digital marketing. Women MSMEs can take part in the selection process for this program by submitting an article to the Sisternet application which can be downloaded on the Google Playstore & Apple Store from 20 March – 25 April 2022. This program will also provide a capital prize to the winner amounted 300 million Rupiah, which will be announced and given at the W20 Summit in Lake Toba, 19 July 2022.
Third, a program called the realization of an inclusive economy was also launched for friends with disabilities. Later this program will facilitate in the form of increasing the abilities of persons with disabilities through various trainings so that they can become entrepreneurs that have commercial value, as well as empowering skills and business management for persons with disabilities. Not only capacity building facilities, the program carried out by the central government through the Ministry of SOEs also provides access to capital through the SOE ecosystem. The community, especially groups of people with disabilities who want to participate in the program, can contact the call center 143.
In addition to launching 3 real action programs for MSMEs, the activity was continued by discussing further about global trends related to MSMEs and various practices from various countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, the European Union, Brazil, and Turkey. These various examples from G20 member countries became important inputs for the draft of W20 communique under the Indonesian presidency.
On the second day, this side event focused on the main topic which is the biggest challenge for women-owned MSMEs, namely access to financial services. The speakers who attended to discuss this were Ririn Kadariyah (Government Investment Center), Aria Widyanto (Amartha Fintech), Resya Kania (Women's World Banking), Diah Yusuf (Womenpreneurs Indonesia Networks (WIN), Kumjoo Huh (Kyobo Life Insurance). virtual training from Yasmin Wirjawan on Digital Financial Literacy for MSMEs Sharing Session and Petty S. Fatimah on Leadership for Women Entrepreneurs by Femina Woman Entrepreneurs.
Chair of Women20 Indonesia, Hadriani Uli Silalahi, said “It is great to see commitments from various countries that support women to reach their full potential as part of the global workforce. Women's economic empowerment and inclusion through MSMEs is the key in achieving the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. As we know, MSMEs account for 90% of global business, absorb 60% of the workforce and contribute 50% of the world's GDP. The choice of Batu, East Java as one of the W20 meeting places is because there are around 14,600 MSMEs of which 60% are owned/run by women.”
Co-Chair of W20 Indonesia, Dian Siswarini added, "To improve the quality of MSMEs owned by women as a way to eliminate discrimination against women, all elements and stakeholders should, first, be able to support MSMEs owned by women as part of the inclusive recovery and economic growth strategy today and in the future. Second, build a strong ecosystem to support women-owned MSMEs in all G20 countries. Third, maximizing the use of digital platforms to support women's MSMEs."
Also present to open the event, the Deputy Governor of East Java, Dr. H. Emil Elestianto Dardak, B. Bus., M.Sc, Mayor of Batu, Dra. Hj. Dewanti Rumpoko, M.Si, Deputy for Gender Equality at the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, Lenny N. Rosalin. Co-Sherpa of G20 Indonesia, Dian Triansyah Djani who was also present at this event, said that women are agents of change and play an important role in public. There are two interrelated things, women play an important role in post-pandemic economic recovery, and digital transformation is an enabler to support economic inclusion for women. Investing in women is the right thing to realize women's empowerment. The second meeting, which was held on a hybrid basis, was attended by around 500 participants, including 150 people who attended offline in Batu. The participants came from various institutions including representatives from G20 member countries.
The entire W20 agenda until October 2022 is held in stages at several priority destination points in Indonesia. The implementation is in collaboration with International Knowledge Partners, UN agencies, civil society organizations, academics, government agencies up to the private sector.
After Batu, the W20 side events until W20 Summit will then be held in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan in March 2022, Manokwari, West Papua, in May 2022, Lake Toba, North Sumatra in July 2022, and Denpasar, Bali next September to October 2022.