PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk or BNI through the BNI Xpora program is committed to supporting domestic businesses to penetrate the global market. One of the ginger candy producers, PT Indo Tropical Group, has successfully reached the United States market since 2020.
BNI Corporate Secretary Okki Rushartomo said, BNI Xpora, which is an acronym for Export and Diaspora, seeks to present a One Stop Export Solution to support the potential of Indonesian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in developing their business to penetrate the global market.
“With the support of BNI Xpora, PT Indo Tropikal Group the ginger candy producer from Karanganyar, Central Java, has successfully penetrated the export market and continues to grow, this is a tangible manifestation of BNI's presence in helping Indonesian SMEs to compete in the international market with quality products,” said Okki.
BNI Xpora encourages SMEs to Go Productive, Go Digital, and Go Global and become a service center for the Indonesian diaspora abroad. This program also makes it easier for Indonesian diaspora who are entrepreneurs abroad to get products from Indonesia.
Indo Tropical Export & Import Marketing Nuri shared that her SME business was able to expand into the export market thanks to a meeting with a buyer from the United States in October 2017.
After a long process, in February 2020 Indo Tropical made the first shipment of 40 containers to the United States, which was the beginning of their business expansion abroad.
“Since then, Indo Tropical has been regularly shipping products to the United States and Canada every 1.5 to 2 months,” she said.
Nuri further said that the BNI Xpora program has contributed significantly to Indo Tropical's business development. Since joining BNI Xpora in 2023, Indo Tropical has felt significant support in developing an international network.
“Since joining BNI Xpora, we have received a lot of support, from business matching with overseas buyers to exhibition facilities at home and overseas,” said Nuri.
The program also helped Indo Tropical to expand their export market, with several orders coming through business matching facilitated by BNI Xpora. In addition, they have successfully exported to the Netherlands and are now exploring new opportunities in Canada.
In addition to market opportunities, Nuri also mentioned that BNI Xpora provided many important lessons related to the export business. "We learned about exports, business matching, exhibition facilities, and also capital support through credit facilities from BNI. This program also facilitates cooperation with Customs which is very useful," she said.
Not only focusing on the US and Canada, Indo Tropical has now penetrated the Indian market with fresh ginger products. In the future, Nuri hopes to expand exports to other countries beyond these two countries.
"We are also in negotiations with buyers in Japan, the UK and the Middle East. In fact, we aim to add new business lines, such as oxygen drinking water and sparkling water next year," says Nuri, who currently employs 50 employees.
As a recommendation for other SMEs, Nuri suggested to always keep up to date with information from BNI Xpora, and innovate in improving product quality and capacity to be ready to compete in the international market. "Follow the activities being held, increase product knowledge, and continue to innovate. BNI Xpora provides many opportunities and useful learning for global market expansion," she concluded.