Sunu Widyatmoko, the Secretary-General of the Indonesian Peer-to-Peer Fintech Lending Association (AFPI), has stated that the potential for SMEs in Indonesia remains very high. Currently, 60% of Indonesia's GDP comes from SMEs, with 90% of jobs in the sector.

However, Sunu mentioned that the main issue for SME financing lies in the difficulty of obtaining funds. Bank assessments, which prioritize the Credit Information System (SLIK), are often seen as burdensome for SME operators as they struggle to demonstrate cash flow. Furthermore, most SME operators require small loans below the minimum threshold set by banks.

The distribution of SMEs is also uneven, with 62% of total financing concentrated in the Java and Bali regions. Fintech itself faces challenges in reaching more SMEs due to low levels of technological literacy.

Nevertheless, Sunu emphasized that Fintech requires a substantial amount of data, especially for monitoring fund circulation for funding purposes. Given that fintech has disbursed more than 600 trillion Indonesian rupiahs to SMEs since 2018, there is a need for greater effort on the part of SMEs to digitize their data.

Eddy Misero, the Secretary-General of the Indonesian SME Association, also expressed that efforts to introduce digitalization are hindered by the educational background of business operators at the middle-to-low level. The lack of ability to adapt to technology is one of the main obstacles preventing SMEs from thriving. According to data from the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the value of loans in the fintech sector in 2023 is $55.98 trillion, including those provided to SMEs.

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