Jakarta, 13 October 2020 – Today, Danone-AQUA is holding an inspiring webinar with the theme “Empowering Women through Micro Businesses in Supporting the Family Economy” to encourage the role of women in strengthening the economy through MSMEs. This event aims to equip housewives with knowledge of doing business so that they can help support the family economy during a pandemic which is full of challenges like today.
“Women’s participation in the economy can spur productivity and contribute to sustainable development,” said Indra Gunawan, Deputy for Community Participation, Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (KemenPPPA) who was present virtually at the webinar.
“Therefore, the Ministry of PPPA continues to support women’s participation in the economic sector in various ways. One of them is by paving the way so that more women are MSME actors and usually micro-entrepreneurs in general are women “
The knowledge of doing business that women need in order to start their own micro-businesses includes financial management, customer service and marketing. Everything can be found in the AQUA Home Service (AHS) program initiated by Danone-AQUA since 2008.
In line with KPPPA’s agenda to involve more women in the economic sector, the AHS program empowers women by holding classes, sharing sessions and training. The hope is that they can immediately practice as Goodwill Ambassadors for the environment and their families while taking the role of a micro distributor of AQUA products that can help the family economy.
“The AHS program is a manifestation of Danone-AQUA’s commitment to always presenting the goodness of nature and the goodness of life to more Indonesian families,” said Ratih Retno, Emerging Channel Director Danone-AQUA when speaking at the webinar. “Hopefully with this inspiring session, where we can share stories of each other’s business, there will be more women who are inspired to be more empowered and strengthen the family economy.”
One of the AHS mothers who shared stories in the webinar was Nani Heryani, the owner of the business “AHS Widya” which was founded in 2010 in Jakarta.
“My husband does work as a Civil Servant, but I realize that he can’t work forever,” said Nani when asked why he started his own business. “I want to prepare for old age as early as possible with AHS.
So that later my family and I don’t just rely on my husband’s retirement money. I want to help ease the burden on my husband. Alhamdulillah, I met the AHS program. With provision from AQUA and support from fellow AHS ladies, I have a better understanding of how to manage a business. Now I have 3 employees who help to handle 4,000 orders every month. I also actively help new AHS mothers if they have questions about their own business. “
Public figure Tasya Kamila who was present at the webinar also shared her perspective on women and business.
“A story of struggle like Ibu Nani’s always inspires me to be optimistic and try hard,” said Tasya. “I believe that as women, we have an important role in driving the economic progress of the family. By doing business, we can prove our ability to face existing challenges and also spread goodness in society through our business. I think AHS ladies are lucky to have a solid community, so they can support each other during difficult times. “
Currently, AHS has more than 8,000 members, the majority of whom are housewives from various provinces in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Bali. KPPPA and Danone-AQUA hope that the AHS program will continue to expand to more areas in Indonesia so that more women can run micro-businesses and strengthen the family economy.
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