Lombok, 10 December 2019 – As many as 47 women entrepreneurs in Lombok have finished participating in the Pro-Women program which contributes to improving welfare and poverty alleviation through direct empowerment and assistance. The satisfactory result of the Pro-Women program is that 93.6% of all participants have carried out better business management and operations compared to before joining.

“I am proud to be in the midst of tough and brave women. Dare to advance, produce, and work with those who are useful in this Pro-Women program, “said Hj. Niken Saptarini Widyawati Zulkieflimansyah, M.Sc as the Chairperson of the NTB Province PKK Movers Team

The Pro-Women Program is supported by the Ford Foundation, the Rumah Energi Foundation, and the Social Business Platform (PLUS) as an effort to initiate sustainable business and produce methods and tools that can be applied and replicated in every type of business run.

“Through the Pro-Women program we are taught to do financial records which we never ignored. It turned out to be influential in our business strategy not only for promotion, but also included setting the selling price, “said Mahniwati as a participant and owner of Nina Bayan Coffee (Kon Bayan).

Direct assistance for each step carried out in one year has given participants the confidence and opportunity to learn more about business structure. One of the implementations obtained was in the form of a method of financial recording which was found by participants as a foreign matter before joining Pro-Women. As many as 63.8% of participants have made a simple cash flow after the program which proves that the knowledge gained will be used continuously.

“We chose Lombok for the Pro-Women program because of the interesting fact there are 3.16 million people or 19% of the total population of Lombok are business people. We see this potential as a strategy to increase business capacity alongside welfare improvement. Community empowerment activities require intensive assistance, therefore, collaboration and direct assistance are the key to the success of the program, “said Rebekka S. Angelyn, Executive Director of the Rumah Energi Foundation.

Other achievements were as many as 70.2% of the participants had carried out task delegations according to the skills of the team members and 49% of participants had implemented the marketing basis in sales as a form of business strategy. This is a great achievement with the situation before joining almost all participants did not know the marketing and business strategies.

“Not only achievements in business are emphasized, but in the Pro-Women program, we also introduce the concept of growth mindset where we believe that one’s abilities are dynamic and can be improved with good effort. This can be seen from the increase in the confidence of the participants in running their business, especially in networking so as to create wider collaboration opportunities, “said Novi Meyanto as General Manager PLUS.

Broadly speaking, the Pro-Women Program intends to contribute to improving welfare and reducing poverty by empowering women entrepreneurs in Lombok Island. The Pro-Women Program provides assistance in producing business improvement methods that can be replicated, building business networks as information centres for business operators in Indonesia, and increasing capacity in Business Management, Networks, and Marketing.

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Editor’s note:

About Yayasan Rumah Energi:
Rumah Energy Foundation works for the people of Indonesia by becoming a non-profit institution that focuses on developing and spreading the use of renewable energy. Since November 2012, Rumah Energi has consistently been socializing and marketing household-scale biogas through the Blue Program (Biogas Rumah) which currently reaches more than 24,300 biogas units in 11 provinces in Indonesia in collaboration with more than 50 partners (CV, NGOs, Cooperatives or Joint Ventures) Public). Through the implementation of various programs, Rumah Energi has proven to the Indonesian people that biogas technology is very effective in increasing (i) community access to clean energy, (ii) access to high-quality organic fertilizer, (iii) access to multipurpose waste treatment facilities. Achieving the target of adopting biogas technology will be an example of a road map that will be adapted by Rumah Energy to encourage other renewable energy sectors such as the Solar Home System and Bioenergy.

Contact details:
Annisa A. Hanifa
Communication & Stakeholder Relations
081807805393
a.hanifa@rumahenergi.org