BANGKA BARAT -- Youth from Dendang, Kelapa District, West Bangka Regency, Suriadi (29) is not afraid to promote the resam skullcap produced in their village.
The desire of the man who is often called Ahmat emerged because he wanted to help the business of his parents, who are also resam skullcap craftsmen.
Ahmat started promoting the resam skullcap under the brand Aloeng Hardycraft. Not only sold his parents' handicraft products, but he also promoted the resam skullcap from other craftsmen in their village.
He said that the skullcap craftsmen complained that it was difficult to sell their products. If it is not sold then the capital they use does not rotate.
This is what makes Ahmat want to help market the Resam skullcap. Until finally, he met the President Director of PT TIMAH Tbk on an occasion. He immediately promoted the resam skullcap from Dendang Village.
"At that time I was a student and we were invited by the President Director at that time, Pak Riza to the Tins Galery to see Babel's special products, it turned out that there was no resam skullcap. We immediately offered it, the President Director welcomed it, and finally, we joined the PT TIMAH Fostered Partner program," he said.
After becoming a Foster Partner of PT TIMAH Tbk, the Kopiah Resam Aloeng Handycraft products began to be marketed to various galleries such as Tins Gallery, and Galleries at Depati Amir Airport.
In addition, according to Ahmat, he was also facilitated by PT TIMAH Tbk to participate in national exhibitions to promote their products. From this exhibition, he began to be flooded with orders.
"We were once invited by PT Timah to participate in the MSME exhibition of Solo and MSME products at the Provincial DPRD. In addition, the products were also exhibited at seminars, events, and various other moments. From here we were flooded with orders, even reaching 100 packs," said Ahmad.
The increasing number of orders, he said, can help the economy of the Resam skullcap craftsmen in their village.
According to him, the price of the resam skullcap offered varies depending on the material and level of difficulty of manufacture, as well as the period of manufacture.
"Our prices vary, the rough type is priced at Rp. 100,000, the fine type is Rp. 200-400 thousand, and the supertype is Rp. 500 thousand and above, depending on the material and process of making the Resam skullcap, even special orders are valued at Rp. 3 million," he said.
Suriadi is grateful that after becoming a foster partner of PT Timah, he is now able to accommodate and market local products from the residents of Dendang village.
"Alhamdulillah, with intensive marketing, with the capital provided by PT TIMAH Tbk, I can buy direct community products to be marketed both offline and online, because the goods are not damaged. Thank you PT TIMAH Tbk for your help to mobilize MSMEs in Dendang village," he said.
In the future, he plans to create a skullcap gallery to boost sales.
"In the future, we want to package products more attractively, make boxes for Resam Kopiah, and want to create a special gallery for Resam skullcaps in the village. Thus, it can attract more visitors to come to visit and buy MSME products which are the village's mainstay products," said Suriadi.
Meanwhile, Kartini (45), Suriadi's parents who are also craftsmen of resam skullcaps, said that making resam skullcaps has become a community tradition that has been taught from generation to generation.
"It has become a tradition that has been taught from generation to generation, previously for the needs of family worship, it turns out to be of interest to others and is currently the livelihood of the residents of Dendang village," said Kartini.
