Menparekraf of RI Praises Environmentally Friendly Herbal Tea Products Assisted by Pertamina Plaju Refinery as G20 Souvenirs

Palembang, September 20, 2022 - The products of the fostered partners once again received attention from various parties. This time, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) of RI, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, praised herbal tea products from Jamiah Rizqi Herbal, a MSME assisted by CSR of PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional Unit III Plaju Refinery (Pertamina Plaju Refinery) in Palembang.

"Thank you for your support for the G20. Keep generating creation," he said after the Palembang City Creative Economy (Ekraf) Workshop on Wednesday (14/9/2022).

As it is known, herbal tea products produced by Jamiah Rizqi Herbal became G20 souvenir products in Nusa Dua, Bali, at the end of last August.

According to Sandiaga, the potential for Indonesia's creative economy is immense. Moreover, Indonesia's creative economy positions’ is ranked third in the world after the United States and South Korea.

Based on data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in 2019, the leading sub-sectors of the 17 existing creative economy sub-sectors are crafts, culinary, and fashion.

Sandiaga also emphasized the need of collaboration, innovation, and adaptability in advancing the creative economy. Creative economy actors are also asked to apply 3G, namely Gercep (fast motion), Geber (moving together or hand in hand), and Gaspol (working on all online potential), including using online payments.

"Do not talk unnecessarily, dare to take risks, and expand your network. Take the opportunity to make it big, especially since Indonesia is involved in the G20 Summit," added Sandiaga.

Meanwhile, the Mayor of Palembang, Harnojoyo, said there are 12,300 creative workers from 17 creative sub-sectors in Palembang. There are 101,903 MSME actors spread across 18 sub-districts. "We will continue striving to encourage and support MSMEs development in Palembang," he said.

He conveyed his extraordinary appreciation to the Pertamina Plaju Refinery, which has fully supported the assisted MSMEs' development. "An enormous thank you to Pertamina for supporting its small and medium businesses fostered partners. Hopefully, this will be an example for other companies," he said after stopping by and looking at the MSME booth assisted by the Pertamina Plaju refinery.

He is proud of Jamiah Rizqi Herbal products from Palembang, which became one of the souvenirs in Bali G20 series of events.

Area Manager of Communication, Relations & CSR of Pertamina Plaju Refinery, Siti Rachmi Indahsari, added that the company is committed to implementing and developing its MSMEs fostered partners.

Empowerment efforts are carried out by involving various parties. Thus, there will be an increase in business or upgraded MSMEs.

"We help through product development, from packaging design and licensing, to providing wider marketing access," added Rachmi.

Pertamina Plaju Refinery's mission in fostering the community to produce environmentally friendly MSME products conveys a message that the company complies with regulations and fully supports environmental conservation-related agendas, both in operational and business processes, as well as in the environment around the company.

In terms of herbal tea production, MSME actors, Jami'ah Rizqi Herbal, utilize the family medicinal plants (TOGA) planting, which is also one of the adaptation and mitigation actions of climate change. The yard where TOGA was planted in Plaju Ulu was also appointed as the recipient of a trophy and a certificate of appreciation for the Main Climate Village Program (Proklim) in 2021.

On the other side, this yard utilization also brings a multiplier effect in improving people's living standards, which can boost the community's economy.

Aligned with SDGs & ESG

Pertamina Plaju Refinery's efforts in developing Jamiah Rizqi Herbal MSMEs contributed to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets achievement, namely the ninth goal of building durable infrastructure, supporting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and assisting innovation development.

In more detail, the goal is included in the third point, namely increasing small-scale industries and other small-scale businesses' access, especially in developing countries to financial services, including affordable credit combined with value chains and markets.

Therefore, the Pertamina Plaju Refinery has succeeded in maintaining social relations with the community through the social and environmental aspects fulfillment according to the ESG (Environmental, Social, & Governance) criteria in creating a resilient community.**