Bogor Food Festival Facilitates Bogor SMEs Exhibiting Their Products
Bogor Food Festival (BFF) Botani Square 2018 is spoiling Bogor people with its various culinary. This event became a platform to introduce featured products of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) coached by Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and Bogor City which has healthy, natural and convenience characteristic for customers in Jabodetabek area.
Nowadays Bogor has become one of tourism destinations for people in Jabodetabek area. As the potential number of tourism visit is continually increasing, it has affected the demand for products of typical Bogor culinary and souvenirs. As the increasing of customers' knowledge and behavioral pattern on good and balance nutritional intake from food products, so it needs the availability of products which meet quality aspect expected by customers.
This festival picked the theme “Bogor Pop Up Food 2018” and is being held at Botani Square, Bogor (5-18/11). Healthy, natural and convenient are the characters of products which are exhibited and sold. The event aims to educate the importance of healthy lifestyle by consuming healthy, natural and convenience foods. BFF Botani Square helps to improve market access and increase SME’s products revenue as a form of support from Botani Square and IPB. This event also aims to share information about empowering SMEs in field of food and creative industry in supporting local tourism.
“BFF is result of collaboration between Incubator Center IPB with Indonesia Business Incubator Cooperation (KIBI) and Botani Square. Other than to introduce IPB’s coached products, this also to push the growth of regional economy cohesively from upstream to downstream which involves farmers, SMEs actors, academics, and other stakeholders. Moreover, it also to improve the knowledge about food and creative industry products through talkshow, business matching, tenants' product expo, bazaar, and other supporting programs. Not only that, this kind of event will bridge information to business development for tenants, both from the aspect of production, financial, market, and collaboration network,” said Dr. Ir. Rohani Hasbullah, Head of Business Incubator Center (IncuBie) Institute of Research and Community Empowerment (LPPM) IPB.
Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Ir. Memen Surahman, Advisor of KIBI, said that this very first-time collaboration is expected may become an information door for community to join to.
“We will open the more wider membership especially for IPB SMEs. Since 2012, the cooperation establishment has been initiated as the place of tenants’ business development. We have realized that after joining incubation period for 2-3 years, the tenants need a place and in 2015, it has been officially established a cooperation named Indonesia Business Incubator Cooperation (KIBI). KIBI is a production cooperation whose members are tenants, tenant alumni or other entrepreneurs in Bogor area. Since its establishment until now, the cooperation’s members have reached 65 people. Its membership now is still limited on coached tenants of IncuBie IPB. Only KIBI which is both incubator and cooperation in Indonesia,” he said.
In the same occasion, Dr. Ir. Aji Hermawan as Head of LPPM IPB stated that this event is important as the processes of entrepreneurs development and the process of business development.
“With this moment, the tenants will show their products and with this moment, I hope the tenants can utilize as much as possible optimizing this kind of event, one of them is by making uses from customers to obtain suggestion, critics on our products. Other than that, they able meet other stakeholders such as investors, financial institutions, suppliers, this is the chance of business’ educational process, whether it will make some profits,” he conveyed. (qa)
