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Receiving Support from MoSA, John's Chips Business Becomes Primadona in Tebing Tinggi
Writer :
Indah Octavia
Translator :
Karlina Irsalyana
Tebing Tinggi (18 April 2023) - The time is 08.00 a.m. After dropping his son off at school, John Arifin Sinaga started his business activities. Receiving assistance from Ministry of Social Affairs for making the banana chips, his business continues to grow.
The business started in May 2022, was given 2 bunches of bananas from friends, and Arifin turned them into chips. This tenacious and never-give-up attitude has made this local snack grow rapidly. Now banana chips are the favorite of the residents of Tebing Tinggi Regency, North Sumatra.
His business got stuck. Arifin's motorcycle crashes. "I was off selling for 2 months because the motorcycle was having difficulty starting, when I rode this for selling around, the motorbike tire broke, yupz, it's also an old motorbike. But since I got help with a three-wheeled motorcycle from Ministry of Social Affairs, thank God it's running smoothly. I can sell and send goods at any time and anywhere, said the 39-year-old man.
While packing his cassava chips, John also talked about his struggle to build this business.
"A year ago (in 2022) I could only produce 1 bunch of bananas per day, because I cut it manually, using a knife. But after having a cutting tool, then a plastic adhesive tool for packing, my production was much more, 1 day I could get 3 bunches," he recalled.
John is one of the beneficiaries of Ministry of Social Affairs who received Entrepreneurship ATENSI assistance. Following the direction of Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini, this assistance was handed over by Bahagia Center Medan, belonging to MoSA in North Sumatra.
The assistance consists of commercial three-wheeled motorcycle and chips business equipment such as large frying pans, oil filters, plastic packaging adhesives, cutting tools jumbo stoves and gas cylinders.
Right in the month of Ramadan in 2022, he chose this chips business to recover from Covid-19 pandemic which devastated his family's economy.
He said his agricultural business was in decline, he had to sell his motorcycle and he had to borrow money to make ends meet during the pandemic.
Starting from his friend's offer to use 2 bunches of bananas as material for his business, now John can receive orders of up to 35 kg of chips for 2 weeks before Eid 2023.
He also said that his average profit from selling chips was originally around IDR 500 thousand/week. But now he can get an average profit of IDR 1 million/week.
After becoming an expert in making banana chips, John also added a variety of chips, not only banana chips but also cassava chips, breadfruit chips, red potatoes, onion cakes, kembang goyang (honeycomb cookies), and coconut roots.
Marketing is done in various ways, starting from deposit to various stalls and shops, selling around using three-wheeled motorcycle, and selling online via YouTube, Google Business, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The proceeds from his sales so far are of course used to support his wife and 3 children, especially the education of his youngest child who is still in grade 5 of elementary school.
John hopes to be able to develop his business so that he can open up employment opportunities for other friends with disabilities, especially those in Tebing Tinggi Regency.
"I want my business to be able to help friends with disabilities to work, especially in Tebing Tinggi Regency. So that they can have income too, I want to create jobs for them from my business," he hoped.
John is also actively participating in various online workshops to broaden his insight into entrepreneurship. He often takes part in Nusantara Economic Hero (PENA) TV workshops from Ministry of Social Affairs and digitalization fast-track training from the Trading Office.
He also really hopes to be able to take part in offline training in terms of business development. He considers this opportunity to be a way to help develop his business and create business opportunities for other persons with disabilities.
Public Relations Bureau
Ministry of Social Affairs
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