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Background – “Chili” is the Indonesian pet name for SMEs. Just as the little pods spice up an entire cooking pot, so the countless small and micro businesses represent a key ingredient of the Indonesian economy. Artisans, shops, foodstuff manufacturers, or farms with just a handful of employees – often with just a single individual – provide millions of people with work and a living wage. At the same time, many of these SMEs are engaged in a daily struggle for survival, or to deal with the almost insurmountable obstacles placed in the way of their business development. Many entrepreneurs have little or no access to information, financial services and markets. They can neither build up reserves nor expand their business. They are permanently tottering on the brink of the abyss, when, in fact, they should be ensuring that the excluded classes are able to participate in the growth of the Indonesian economy, a role that the SME most certainly could fulfill.

The project – Access is a project that Swisscontact is implementing in Indonesia. Its goal is to provide SMEs with access to information, financial services and new markets. An important tool is a television programme about SMEs, which goes by the name of “Cabe Rawit,“ translated literally as “Chili”. The abbreviation stands for “Cara Berpikir Rahasia Wiraswastawan“ (“secrets of the entrepreneurial way of thinking”). Following discussions with Swisscontact, a private channel is producing the programme on its own initiative and at its own cost. To ensure that small businesses have access to credit and are able to obtain insurance, Access is working closely with other similarly specialized Swisscontact projects in Indonesia. Allianz Insurance has become the first large company to identify the potential for special insurance of the small business market. By being networked with potential buyers overseas, producers of diverse foodstuffs (coffee, tea, conserved fruits and vegetable, nuts, honey, vegetable oils, etc.) are gaining access to new markets. One success of this initiative is that from 2008, the US-retailer Amway will be selling Indonesian forest honey. Moreover, such interaction with national and international buyers’ markets is not just about sales. Through their participation, the SMEs are also learning about product standards, knowledge that they can use to improve their product. The role of Chilis in the cuisine of the Indonesian economy goes way beyond that of a mere spice: The SMEs serve as the expansion agent that stretches out the cuisine and puts it on the tables of the lower social orders.