Indonesia-based Tjufoo Launches D2C Aggregation Platform in Indonesia to Upscale SMEs banner images

Indonesia-based Tjufoo Launches D2C Aggregation Platform in Indonesia to Upscale SMEs

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INDONESIA

D2C

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INVESTMENT

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have a vital role in the national economy. Despite of having a smaller economic scale compared to multinational companies, MSMEs pose as the largest contributor to the Indonesian gross domestic product (GDP). Over the past year, the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (Kemenkop-UKM) has recorded a total of 64.2 million MSMEs, contributing to 61.07 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) – translating to Rp8,573.89 trillion in monetary value. MSMEs have simultaneously absorbed 97 percent of the total available workforce and have collected up to 60.42 percent of the total national investment.

To encourage the increasing competitiveness of MSMEs, the government has launched a digitalization program – targeting 30 million MSMEs to enter the Indonesian digital ecosystem by 2024. This program proves to be essential to improve the national economic structure dominated by the business sector.

"Currently, Indonesia's entrepreneurial ratio reaches 3.5 percent. The government's target for the entrepreneurial ratio in 2024 is to grow it by another 3.95 percent. The government has established Presidential Regulation No. 2 of 2022 on National Entrepreneurship Development 2021-2024. It is expected to be a breakthrough to accelerate the entrepreneurial rate," said Teten Masduki, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, at the Launch of Tjufoo, a startup brand aggregator in Jakarta, Thursday, January 27, 2022.

A collaboration between the government and private sector is essential to accelerate the increase of MSMEs and entrepreneurship ratios in Indonesia. Teten believes that entrepreneurs can utilize Tjufoo to improve their business for capital support, sustainable mentoring, and the leveraging of its digital ecosystem.

"I appreciate Tjufoo's commitment in accelerating the progress of local businesses in the digital ecosystem so that more digital-based MSMEs will appear in 2024," said Teten.

On the same occasion, Moeldoko, Presidential Chief of Staff, emphasized that the public's need for online products and services will remain or increase even after the pandemic ends. "We need to consider that, if MSMEs want to survive, they must adopt digital technology; it's inevitable. It needs the support of all parties. Tjufoo will provide a broad, comprehensive solution with digital and offline channels, providing capital support to develop business, mentoring, and the necessary support for businesses to scale further."

Tjufoo’s official launch in Indonesia is the answer to all these challenges. TJ Tham, Co-Founder and CEO of Tjufoo, stated that he is fully committed to increasing the performances of Indonesian MSMEs.“The pandemic has further made it difficult for MSMEs to survive even after deliberately digitizing. We are here to strengthen the business foundation of MSMEs in Indonesia through the digital ecosystem that we have built."

By the end of 2021, Tjufoo has heavily improved the performance of their brands in its digital ecosystem. With the support of an experienced team and all of the technology platforms needed by MSMEs, Tjufoo is committed to strengthen local brands through its marketing and operational efforts. This way, locally-based business owners can be closer to consumers for larger business purposes. Tjufoo will help its busines owners to realize new opportunities, embrace practices that will further abet business growth and ultimately gain practical skills to their the business to the next level.

As a startup brand aggregator that carries the concept of House of Brands, Tjufoo is committed to accelerating MSMEs' growth by acquiring local brands in the Direct-to-Consumer category. Capital is still a complex problem that MSME entrepreneurs in Indonesia always face.

"Thus, we are committed to make capital available by acquisition to qualifying local brands from various categories and levels. Within the next two years, we will deploy a total of IDR 1.8 trillion for local brands. With this capital support, we hope that Indonesia will be able to produce hundreds of local goods that can compete in the global market," said TJ Tham.

To further grow sustainably, brands acquired by Tjufoo will receive expert advice from professionals of large cross-sector companies, such as Apple, Grab, Amazon, SAP, and JP Morgan.

"The more discussions we have with MSME players, we see that they need team support for mentoring and assistance. Mentoring and assistance that are carried out consistently may provide the solid guidance that businesses need," said TJ Tham, who is also a part of the Founding Team member of Grab. With a combination of extensive business knowledge into the regional markets and a deep understanding of the Indonesian market, TJ Tham has been the man behind execution and rapid expansion of GrabBike and GrabWheels in Indonesia.

Sandiaga Uno, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, welcomed Tjufoo and its commitment to provide mentoring and resources for Indonesian MSMEs. "I appreciate Tjufoo's commitment to join the movement and Sarinah Pandu’s Program to support and improve the MSME business. Tjufoo has a unique role. I'm sure Tjufoo will be a valuable partner to further develop Indonesian enterprises."

Related to this, Tjufoo also signed the Sarinah Pandu Strategic Partnership Agreement, namely to develop MSMEs and women's empowerment. Sarinah Pandu, an initiative by PT SARINAH, carries out its mission to establish MSMEs through a series of training and collaborating with relevant stakeholders. In this collaboration, Tjufoo will provide support in business funding, mentoring, and access to itsecosystem to develop the digitalization of Sarinah's MSMEs.

Sarinah President Director, Fetty Kwartati, too, expressed her appreciation for Tjufoo's collaboration in the Sarinah Pandu program. "Since last year, Sarinah has transformed its business for the community and creators of arts, culture, crafts, culinary, and the creative economy of the archipelago. This collaboration with Tjufoo can help to transform marketing development through digital markets or e-marketplaces and develop its online store ecosystem so that it can play in the global arena," said Fetty.

Fetty plans to shape Sarinah into an aggregator institution to with a special interest in exporting domestic products. In line with Tjufoo's vision and mission, both parties are committed to carry and support national MSMEs to compete in the global market.

"Tjufoo is open to collaborate with any parties that have the same mission with us to scale local brands. For that, let's raise the post-pandemic economy through digitizing MSMEs," said TJ Tham.

About Tjufoo Corp:

Tjufoo Corp is a brand aggregator with a concept of "House of Brands" that helps local D2C (Direct to Consumer) enterprises to grow and scale by leveraging digital channels, data platforms, and other tools as means to champion MSMEs in Indonesia.

Tjufoo brings unmatched expertise in scaling and optimizing businesses of all sizes. With a formidable founding team and leading investors across technology and commerce, Tjufoo is ready to do the heavy-lifting alongside its local brands to compete in the global arena.

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