FIELD
VISIT
Field Visit On the fourth day of the meeting,
the experts visited the microfinance village unit in Cisarua, West Java,
one of the best areas of microfinance management. The programme was
organized in cooperation with Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), a leading
microcredit institution in Indonesia. The field visit was conducted as a
comparative study, where the experts could learn a different type of
microfinance activities, including best practices in Indonesia. The
field visit was also aimed to give new experience to the experts on the
application of different systems in daily operation. Prior to the field visit, the BRI
officials presented a brief introduction on the development of BRI and
its activities ranging from microcredit operation system, policy and
strategy, as follows: - BRI Presentation - - End of BRI Presentation - During
the field visit, the officials of BRI Unit Cisarua presented facts and
figures of the BRI Unit as of December 2003 as follows:
The experts witnessed and
observed the daily activity of such typical microfinance unit. Questions
and comments directly addressed to the unit managers enriched the
discussion and exchange of views among experts on how to successfully
manage a microcredit activity. At the end of the field visit, the
experts also visited a microcredit customer who has benefited from the
microfinancing scheme in developing decorative-resin business.
The project profile which was
visited at its business site was reported as follows:
Mr. Andrue Atja, 45 years, is an
old customer of BRI Unit Cisarua. His business is making handicraft
(souvenirs) from kristal
(local people usually mention crystal for any kind of souvenir made of
glass, resin or plastic). He actually started his business in 1990. When
he was willing to develop his business he came to BRI Unit Cisarua in
1997 to apply for loan. Since then, he has already borrowed the small
credit for six times. His first loan was Rp 6,000,000 and now his loan
size is Rp 25,000,000. He sells his products to Jakarta, but mainly
based on special orders he received. Many big companies have become his
clients. Kentucky Fried Chicken
chained restaurant and Indofood (food
company) are among others. His hard work and creativity
combined with opportunity to get additional capital make his business
growing, and the business provides employment for his community. Now, he
employs 15 - 25 people to fulfill the orders he received. The field trip was followed by a
visit to the ‘Safari Park’ at Cisarua region.
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