ITM actively participated in the National Coordination Meeting for Village-Owned Enterprises (BUM) from December 21-23, 2021. The event, organized by the Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration, aimed to formulate action plans for strengthening Village-Owned Enterprises and Joint Village-Owned Enterprises.
ITM's participation in this national event is a recognition by the government of ITM's consistent support for strengthening Village-Owned Enterprises (BUM Desa) through community empowerment programs. During this National Coordination Meeting, ITM shared its successful experiences in developing Village-Owned Enterprises in the area of PT Indominco Mandiri (IMM).
Currently, IMM has 9 partner Village-Owned Enterprises located in the Kutai Kertanegara Regency and Kutai Timur Regency, namely in Kandolo Village, Teluk Pandan Village, Martadinata Village, Suka Rahat Village, Suka Damai Village, Danau Redan Village, Santan Ulu Village, Santan Tengah Village, and Santan Ilir Village. These nine villages are in the first circle of IMM's community empowerment program.
The inception of Village-Owned Enterprises as part of IMM's Community Empowerment Program began in 2013 when Santan Tengah Village faced a clean water scarcity issue. IMM then stepped in to help build infrastructure for a clean water supply program. However, there was no institution to manage the clean water facilities. Eventually, IMM and the villagers agreed to establish a business unit under the Village-Owned Enterprises to manage the clean water facilities for sustainable benefits.
The success of the clean water access program in Santan Tengah Village inspired Kandolo Village, another partner village of IMM, to conduct a study visit on clean water management. In 2015, Kandolo Village shifted its program priorities to focus on clean water and replicated the program from Santan Tengah Village.
Currently, Kandolo Village has 4 operating business units: a clean water business unit, a palm oil weighing business unit, a palm oil sales business unit, and a water refill business unit. They are also in the process of developing a business unit for marketing the production of palm sugar and its derivatives.
The other eight partner Village-Owned Enterprises under IMM are still in the developmental stage. Each of them already has business units, and some have started generating income from these business units.
IMM continues to develop Village-Owned Enterprises through its community empowerment program and provides support and capacity-building to the community through various training sessions, including administrative and business planning.
The business units within the partner Village-Owned Enterprises currently include clean water management units (PAMDES), marketing of agricultural products, sales of agricultural products, marketing of SME products, market and fruit kiosk management, tourism site management (still in planning), school transportation services, pertashops, and contracting services.
"When mining companies are no longer in production, community self-reliance must have matured. With the legal entity for Village-Owned Enterprises strengthened by an MoU between the Ministry of Villages, PDTT, and ISSF, we hope that Village-Owned Enterprises will have a clearer institutional structure, more assured sustainability of activities, and visible development in the future," said Pak Ignatius Wurwanto, Director of ITM.
ITM's nine-year experience in developing Village-Owned Enterprises in its operational areas, especially in the partner villages of IMM, serves as a foundation for sharing knowledge during this year's National Coordination Meeting for Village-Owned Enterprises. It is hoped that Village-Owned Enterprises will become stronger in improving the welfare of the community.
