The Blessings of Assisting
BUMDes (Village Owned Enterprises) Jorong Mandiri in the Sembalun Bumbung area, East Lombok Regency started its business in agriculture and tourism. Its operations had been halted due to the 2018 earthquake, this BUMDes had to swallow the bitter taste again due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Basuki Rahmat, chairman of the Jorong Mandiri BUMDes, said that he and the members had been discouraged by the conditions during the pandemic. However, Rahmat and his team decided to get up and do more work by involving mothers to produce agricultural products since 2020.
“Producing agricultural products into food products that can be directly consumed. However, due to the impact of Covid-19, the percentage value in this field has decreased somewhat and product orders have also decreased," said Basuki.
The concept of local empowerment adopted by BUMDes makes this business entity unable to reach areas outside the Sembalun area. They still rely on the market around the Sembalun community only.
Seeing this condition, in April-September, Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) through the ENCOURAGE project funded by World Vision Australia tried to support BUMDes in the form of training whose impact was greatly felt by Basuki and his members.
“Before we were fostered, we used to have a market that we subscribed to sell our products, but the cooperation was cut off, so the units that joined us did not produce goods again. We feel grateful because WVI has coached us on how to properly manage the organization in BuMDes, how to market products online, and so on,” he explained.
Not only knowledge, but this training also regenerates the spirit of BUMDes members and colleagues, namely members of IKM (Small and Medium Industries). They are given training to better manage business plans and concepts. One of them is trying out the WV program to sell agricultural equipment in large quantities and with minimal capital.
“We are trying for the first time to be active by participating in the WVI program in the procurement of agricultural goods which is quite large in procurement. This is the beginning of our start to be seen by the community the identity of BUMDes. If we and our friends don't start, we won't get up,” said Basuki again.
Now Basuki and other BUMDes members in Sembalun have felt the changes. With trust, intention, and effort, BUMDes can still move forward even during a difficult pandemic.
Various collaborations and reactivation of unused village offices into BUMDes Mart have also been carried out by Basuki and his members. BUMDes has started collaborating with hotels and shops to activate the drinking water business at BUMDes Mart.
Written by: Siluh Puspita, Staff of Lombok Earthquake Emergency Response Wahana Visi Indonesia
