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Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama Kusubandio. ANTARA/HO-Press Bureau of the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry/Hanni Sofia/am/sh

 Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama Kusubandio shed light on the various challenges facing micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the creative industry to penetrate the global market.

"(The challenges) pertain to logistics, documentation and administration, and high export-fees. The creative industry is dominated by MSMEs, and not all of them understand the process to export," Kusubandio stated during the Indonesia Creative Works 2020 Exhibition in Jakarta on Friday.

Other problems faced by MSMEs are the limited production capacity, lack of production machinery, and market information for their products, coupled with their lack of confidence in entering the export market.

"They do not have the digital marketing ability or e-commerce platform for exports and consequently have to bear high costs," Kusubandio stated.

Several operators in the creative industry have encountered difficulties in obtaining raw materials during the imposition of Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) since some of the basic materials were imported.

"The enforcement of PSBB has disrupted the distribution of logistics, and this has increased the delivery time," he stated.

On the other hand, the industry's revenue has declined with the drop in consumer demand, while capital loans cannot be easily accessed.

In its efforts to solve the problems, he affirmed that the ministry had selected some MSMEs to partake in the online promotion to the international market and had created a special directory of creative products to be distributed to all Indonesian representatives abroad.

The ministry has also worked closely with all stakeholders to provide stimulus and capital loans to creative industries and had cooperated with the market place.

Kusubandio believes that the industry should derive the necessary momentum presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the digitalization process using the e-commerce platform.

In May 2020, the government had launched the national campaign, bearing the hashtag #BanggaBuatanIndonesia (Proud of the Indonesian Products), to promote products made in Indonesia.

Since the launch of the campaign, as of August 15, some 1.6 million MSMEs have entered the digital ecosystem.

Based on data of the Cooperatives and SME Ministry, the number of MSMEs in 2018 had reached 64 million, of which only 13 percent, or some eight million, have been digitalized. (ANTARA)