Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – At least eight million of the 60 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia have been connected to e-commerce platforms.

"We already have eight million of the 60 million MSMEs that are connected to digital platforms. We have to keep pushing so that the number will always increase over and over again to 10 million, 15 million and to 20 million and so on," Indonesian President Joko Widodo said when opening the 2021 Microsoft Developer Conference under a theme Accelerating Indonesia's Digital Economy on Thursday (Feb. 25).

The head of state emphasized that digital transformation should be developed to target MSMEs in order to support them expanding the market shares.

"Digital transformation is the door for MSMEs to enter the digital marketplace and become part of the national and global supply chains," he said, adding that digital transformation is the key to surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.

The momentum of the pandemic should be maximally managed to accelerate digital transformation in Indonesia in many sectors, including digital government, digital economy, as well as digital communities and infrastructures.

"We should be able to use this pandemic momentum in order to prepare MSMEs to be able to advance in grade," said the president, while citing that there is an increase in online-based sales transactions in the range between 10 percent and 15 percent.

"I am sure that with the collaboration involving the Indonesian digital communities, including Microsoft, our strength will be multiplied. Our strength will be even greater to accelerate the digital transformation process that we are currently doing," the president said.

Reporting by Indonesia Window