Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in the Indonesian economy. However, they are still struggling to access financial institutions, making it difficult for them to recover from the crisis and grow.
This issue was spotlighted in a hybrid public lecture held by SBM-ITB. The public lecturer attended by the Founder and CEO of Impact Credit Solution, Reinier Musters.
Through the discussion entitled “ A Call to Act: How to Provide Funding for the Underserved,” held at MBA-Jakarta and zoom platform, Musters presented an overview of the journey of a Venture Capital (VC) to provide funding for the underserved communities and small businesses in Southeast Asia.
“One of the biggest issues is that borrowing money in Indonesia is expensive, so we leverage technology to make money more affordable,” said Musters when he opened his discussion.
According to Muster, SMEs are struggling to get funding and access to technology, so he created Impact Credit Solution to provide funding and technology for MSMEs in Southeast Asia to grow. In Indonesia, Impact Credit Solution works with banks and technology companies to make direct lending and channel for many MSMEs.
“I decided to leave Mckinsey and build venture capital instead,” revealed Muster to tell his experience in building Impact Credit Solution. He added, through the Impact Credit solution, Muster is looking for micro business which are not covered by bank financing.
“I want to spend the next decade making an impact investment,” said Musters, who is also the founding partner of Orange Growth capital. He then revealed that he not only wants to generate financial but also social return by helping MSMEs and underserved communities.
Furthermore, Musters explained that to get funding from venture capital, MSMEs first should know what kind of funding they need. Besides, investors are looking for a business founder who understands the market and the business with a good business model and value propositions. “The business must have a good business model and value proposition,” he said.
Lastly, for first-time business founders, Muster advised that they should be passionate about the business they develop. Secondly, founders should be aware that their role is succeed the business. However, founders cannot do everything due to their limitations, so they need people. Thus, founders should realize their shortcomings and find the right people to help them.