Kementerian Perdagangan (Kemendag) is making efforts to facilitate Indonesian plantation product entrepreneurs to enter export markets through intensive coaching in the New Export Breakthrough (NEXT) program in collaboration with the Business and Export Development Organization (BEDO) in Jakarta on Wednesday. Didi Sumedi, Director General of National Export Development at Kemendag, stated that NEXT is a collaborative effort between the government and stakeholders to enhance the export of plantation products. "We hope that participants can gain insights to overcome global trade challenges so that their business plans can adapt to the existing conditions," Didi said. The program is specifically designed for plantation companies as a pilot project. Didi mentioned that if successful, it will be adapted for other products. During the same event, Director of Primary Product Export Development at Kemendag, Miftah Farid, and Chairman of BEDO, Jeff Kristianto, signed a cooperation agreement.
NEXT consists of a series of online and face-to-face export mentoring activities over one year for 30 selected companies in the plantation sector. Throughout NEXT, selected companies will receive mentoring from export practitioners, opportunities to participate in exhibitions domestically and internationally, and access to join the InaExport Kemendag website. The program emphasizes the export preparation phase. This phase includes strengthening the internal organization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for export readiness, assistance in formulating export strategies and plans, as well as business practices and negotiations. There are 400 prospective NEXT participants who will be curated to select 30 entrepreneurs from across Indonesia. "Through NEXT, we hope Indonesian plantation entrepreneurs can acquire knowledge to export their products to international markets from the experts involved. Thus, entrepreneurs can increase their company's turnover after completing this program," said Miftah.
