Telkom University: Telkom University, as the Best Private Universities No. 1 in Indonesia, continues to be committed to providing the best for the progress of the Indonesian nation through the Tri Dharma of Higher Education, namely Education, Research, and Community Service. Through these three main tasks, Telkom University has carried out community service in Cimahi City, West Java, with Diversification of Instant Gentong Empal Products and E-Commerce-Based Marketing as an Effort to Increase MSME Production of Food Products.
Through this community service, lecturers at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Telkom University managed to get a grant from the Community Partnership Program (PKM) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. Rohmat Tulloh, S.T., M.T., as the head of the community service team, explained that this community service was in collaboration with Sakinah SMEs, Cimahi City, West Java, as one of the target communities.
“Sakinah SMEs, Cimahi City, West Java are engaged in snack and preserved food products. There are two main problems faced. Firstly, MSMEs currently do not have superior products that can help increase sales turnover. Secondly, the impact of distributing products affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, “explained Rohmat.
Rohmat also added that the product marketing area is only around Cimahi City and Bandung City with a consignment system or leaving products in cake shops, mini markets, and other business places. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many tourist attractions, schools, offices, and shops were closed, causing sales to drop drastically.
“The solution to overcome this problem is to diversify the products produced by MSMEs by providing training in instant Empal Gentong Meatballs as a superior product and ready to be marketed. Product marketing is also carried out through E-Commerce in the form of website creation and online market places to expand the market.”
This community service is a collaboration between the D3 Telecommunication Technology Study Program and the D3 Hospitality, which consists of Atik Novianti, S.T., M.T., a D3 Telecommunication Technology lecturer, and Dendi Gusnadi, M.M.Par who is a D3 Hospitality lecturer at Telkom University.
“We hope that the products we produce will continue to be utilized by MSMEs and be able to increase sales turnover and become a superior product in West Java,” said Rohmat.