The Faculty of Economics and Business of the Islamic University of Malang held a hybrid webinar with the title "Export-oriented MSMEs Competitiveness in Supporting the National Economic Recovery as the opening of the 2021 INTEREST Activity, an activity held by the Management Student Association, Faculty of Economics and Business, the University of Islam  Malang on Saturday 30 October 2021 by cooperating with KADIN East Java and Surabaya Export Center The activity, which was held offline and online, took place at the Postgraduate Unisma building, 7th floor, which was the opening event of a series of events organized by HimaProdi Management, namely the International Student Creative Business Competition (INTEREST) ​​Event with Adik Dwi Putranto as the Chairperson of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN). ) East Java Province and Dr. Ir. Moch. Ardi P, M.Eng as the coordinator of the Surabaya Export Center at the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia & Technical Personnel in the Field of Product Standardization.

Nur Diana S.E., M.Si as the Dean of FEB Unisma, in her opening, said that one of the visions and missions of FEB Unisma is to produce graduates with an entrepreneurial spirit who have competitiveness by cooperating with the industrial world, the world of work, professional associations, universities at home and abroad. Various breakthroughs have been made to create graduates who have an entrepreneurial spirit. However, currently, MSMEs are not only facing the R.I 4.0 era but are also faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not yet been completed and affects the journey of MSMEs in Indonesia. "The results of a survey conducted by the Asian Development Bank in 2020, there were 48.6% that were temporarily closed, even the domestic demand for MSMEs decreased by 30.5%, and 41 percent canceled contracts, and other obstacles for MSMEs still require capital injections," he said. On the other hand, the government's efforts to raise SMEs through the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program have absorbed a budget for MSME support of Rp112.44 trillion, or 96.7% of the ceiling of Rp123.47 trillion. In terms of regulation, the government has issued Government Regulation no. 7 of 2021 concerning the Ease, Protection, and Empowerment of Cooperatives and MSMEs in Indonesia as a rule for implementing the Job Creation Law," said Diana. "The fact is that the contribution of MSMEs to exports is only 14.37%, lower than other countries in Asia, such as Singapore (41%), Malaysia (18%), Thailand (29%), Japan (25%), and China (60%). %)"

"Our competitive products can still be the spearhead of supporting the Indonesian economy. Of course, here we need inputs from entrepreneurs which might be produced from university graduates," he added. Meanwhile, Adik Dwi Putranto said that the East Java KADIN generally has a program to improve human resources because all sectors are highly dependent on human resources. Among the programs are mentoring MSMEs, establishing Curation Houses, and how to create new entrepreneurs. "As we know, entrepreneurship in Indonesia is still very small; the percentage is only 3%," he added. Furthermore, Adik Dwi Putranto explained why MSMEs are very important in Indonesia and become the concentration of KADIN to explain its programs, namely because MSMEs are able to absorb an extraordinary workforce, which is 90% creating workers in Indonesia. Resource person Ardi Prasetiawan said that the most important thing in exports is the standardization of the quality of competitive SME products. "How do we standardize the products produced that have competitiveness, because if we do not have competitiveness, we cannot export or lose to other countries," he said. "Our competition is not only internal in Indonesia, but also in other countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, they have the same characteristics as us," he added.

Furthermore, Ardi Prasetiawan said that the Ministry of Trade already has a website/application that makes it easy for export players to find out the technical standards of export destination countries that can be utilized by business actors. In addition, trade representatives stationed in 45 countries can provide market briefs and intelligence that offer input on the products produced.

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