BRI: accelerating digitalisation among MSMEs
In a recent announcement made by PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) the company has synergised three of its ecosystems in order to accelerate the digitalisation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country to help with their survival and growth amidst a COVID-19.
Bank BRI’s three ecosystems include: market ecosystems, digital ecosystems and village ecosystems to drive sustainable growth. Bank BRI is determined to serve the community as much as possible, in a cost efficiency way.
"The crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic has pushed us to innovate faster. We synergize the three ecosystems as a way for us to digitize MSMEs to continue to grow, rising from the pressure of coronavirus impacts," said Sunarso President Director of Bank BRI.
The synergy of the three ecosystems will help Bank BRI to provide education, assistance, infrastructure, branding and promotion for businesses, which have been highlighted as core elements needed by MSMEs in addition to finance.
"For the market ecosystem, for example, Bank BRI helps traditional markets by introducing online shopping, whether through WhatsApp, websites, mobile apps, or cooperation with start-ups. We build a web market that supports yields from villages to enter the markets and then being absorbed by consumers through online shopping. So, we digitize traditional markets," added Sunarso.
Committed to expanding its web market presence to empower and digitalise more traditional merchants, Bank BRI has 4,247 market websites with 45,432 registered merchants. Bank BRI has set targets to build 5,241 web markets and empower 52,410 people.
"The potential of traditional markets in Indonesia reaches 14,182 markets and the number of merchants is 2.54mn people. We dedicate one person in charge in each market to educate members of the market ecosystem, one of which is related to cashless society."
As part of the digital ecosystem, Bank BRI has partnered with multiple large companies including Tokopedia, Grab, Bukalapak, Shopee, Gojek and Kredit Usaha Rakyat/KUR. With these partnerships Bank BRI supports economic empowerment by developing clusters and superior products. Bank BRI’s commitment to synergise its ecosystem aligns with one of its three pillars of its digital strategy as well as the digitalisation of business processes and new business models for convenience and comfort within its community.
"We continue to carry out business transformation, both digital and cultural aspects. Digital has become the DNA of Bank BRI. We have also adopted open banking and opened up the possibility of using blockchain technology to support business processes," concluded Sunarso.
In addition, Bank BRI is accelerating its development of collaborations with fintech start-ups such as Investree, TaniHub and LinkAja, as well as strengthening its P2P lending channels such as Modalku and Investree.
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