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Micro-entrepreneurs from the eastern part of Indonesia are to
be afforded greater opportunities to take part in the 2007 Citi
Micro-Entrepreneurship Awards (CMAs), which are aimed at honoring the
best micro-enterprises in Indonesia.
"This year, we will visit all provinces of Indonesia, including those
in the eastern part, to disseminate information on CMAs and gather
applications," Nining I Soesilo, head of the University of Indonesia's
Micro-Credit Center and a member of the jury, told The Jakarta Post on
Monday
She said it was hoped that the eastern provinces would contribute at
least 20 percent of the 1,000 participants targeted this year.
Although the CMAs, organized by Citigroup, have been running since
2005, the level of participation by entrepreneurs from the eastern
provinces has been low. Of the 607 participants in 2006, only 95, or 15
percent, came from eastern Indonesia. And in 2005, of the 393
participants, only 48, or 12 percent, came from the east. Papua
province has never been represented in the competition.
Nining said that the entrepreneurs in the eastern provinces seldom
submitted applications as they assumed that they would have to pay for
their own trips to Jakarta, if successful.
"In reality, we cover all the costs of the finalists' trips to
Jakarta," she explained.
She said registration for this year's CMAs would continue until Sept.
11, and the winners would be announced by the end of November.
Participants should have been in business for more than two years, and
have total annual sales of no more than Rp 50 million (US$ 5,327), and
borrowings of not more than Rp 10 million.
In each of the four awards categories -- agriculture, handicrafts,
trade, services and the arts -- the jury will select a winner, and two
runners-up. Each winner will receive Rp 11 million, while each
runner-up will get Rp 9 million and each third-placed contestant Rp 7
million.
Nining acknowledged that micro entrepreneurs usually found the limited
number of micro financing institutions to be a constraint on growing
their businesses.
Based on data published by the State Ministry for Cooperatives and
Small and Medium Enterprises, Indonesia has 45,000 non-bank micro
financial institutions, of which 36,000 operate as savings
cooperatives. They can only serve 10 million borrowers.
Bambang Brodjonegoro, dean of the University of Indonesia's School of
Economics, said that micro businesses in the eastern provinces,
especially Papua, generally grew at a slower pace than the counterparts
in the western provinces.
"The aim of the CMA program is to promote the involvement of micro
financial institutions in strengthening micro businesses in the eastern
provinces, including Papua," Citigroup country manager Peter B. Eliot
said in a press statement.
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