We offer expansive halls to display the products of our members at our office at the SME Tower [on Jakarta’s Jalan Gatot Subroto]. Besides that, we also provide trainings and workshops to develop the businesses of our members. We also introduce international buyers to our members and do some business-matching sessions. All of our facilities and trainings can be used without additional charges for our members. How can you become a member? Just come to our office and bring samples of your products. We have a curatorial board that determines whether your products would be suitable for Smesco. What kind of products does Smesco usually look for? We look for products that are unique and cannot be found in other countries, so that the international guests visiting Smesco will be interested to buy and bring them to their home country. The products should also be well made with high-quality materials. How many visitors do you usually have at Smesco? Well, that depends. On weekends, we can get as many as 4,000 visitors per day. And most visiting state-guests are usually scheduled to visit Smesco. How does the Internet era affect Smesco’s members? Internet is getting very important these days. As we all know, Internet accelerates the spread of information, facilitates communication and creates new business opportunities. According to our survey, SMEs that use the Internet, in their promotion or trade, grow twice as fast as those that don’t. How many Smesco members are Internet-savvy? Most of them aren’t. And that’s why we provide regular trainings on e-commerce, twice a month, for all our member. Sometimes, we invite representatives from big [Internet] companies, such as Google and Facebook to give tutorials to our members. Do you also work together with local marketplaces to promote the products of your members? Yes, we do. Currently, we work together with Blibli.com and Bhinneka.com to showcase the products of our members. And we also have our own marketplace at Smescotrade.com, which was launched mid last year. Is the marketplace reserved for the members of Smesco? What kind of products does it offer? Yes, it’s only for our members. It offers all the products, which are currently being displayed at the SME Tower, including fashion, furniture and handicrafts. Our website also supports credit card and e-wallet payments. Fantastic. How does it go so far? It’s been great. More than 1,000 people visit our marketplace each day. About 70 percent of them are locals and 30 percent of them are people living abroad. Our members also report an increase of sales, some as much as threefold.
