JAKARTA,
Indonesia, June 21 -- Members of the
United States-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Council
gathered on June 20 to offer a workshop to representatives of Indonesia’s Small
and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
The
workshop included speakers from some of the leading US companies operating in
ASEAN to pass on their knowledge in key areas like supply chain management,
utilization of information and communications technology (ICT), accessing
financial services, marketing and creating successful business plans, according
to a press release from US-ASEAN Business Council.
The
event was launched by the Chair of the Council’s ASEAN Committee, Sam Kim, Vice
President of ASEAN for Procter & Gamble, who was followed by Indonesia’s
Minister of SME’s and Cooperatives Syarifuddin Hasan, US Ambassador to ASEAN
David Carden, and ASEAN’s Director of Market Integration Subash Bose Pillai.
“SMEs
are the lifeblood of ASEAN. Many of the challenges that SMEs face in growing
their businesses are the same challenges we face so we recognize that we are
all in this together. If SMEs are successful, then we are all successful,” said
Sam Kim, “This program in Indonesia is a pilot for the work we intend to do
throughout all of ASEAN. As some of the leading companies the US have to offer
in our respective fields, we believe we have knowledge to share that can help
SMEs grow their businesses. We also have something to learn from SMEs as they
are often also big sources of innovation.”
The
full day workshop ended with the attending SME’s signing up to participate in a
mentoring project with the participating Council members to help ensure they
are able to take those lessons learned in the workshop and apply them to their
business, ASEAN said.
“We
understand that SMEs are the engine room of the ASEAN economy and armed with
the right technologies and incentives the impact of SMEs on economic growth and
social inclusion for the region could be even greater, which is why this
program is so critical to address both the needs of SMEs today and provide a
view to future technologies as well,” said Andreas Diantoro, President Director
of Microsoft Indonesia. “For SMEs technologies such as cloud computing support
the advancement of ICT adoption and provide them with the opportunity to
leverage low-cost, enterprise-class computing to drive efficiencies, access new
customers globally and ultimately affording them a bigger role as partners in
achieving the 2015 ASEAN vision.”
The
program aims to help SMEs to become regional and global companies by providing
access to tools that are not available to small businesses in ASEAN nations and
connecting those businesses to experienced professionals who can provide a
depth of knowledge and experience. By supporting the development and creation
of ASEAN based SMEs, the program will support the goal of growing the ASEAN
middle class and help ASEAN governments with their priorities to create
broad-based, sustainable, inclusive economic growth.
ASEAN
added that a number of Council members sent speakers and helped facilitate the
workshop, including Procter & Gamble, UPS, Citi, Intel, Freeport McMoRan,
Microsoft, Sampoerna, Seagate, and Yahoo! (US-ASEAN Business Council)
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment