Cirebon rattan digitalization kickoff: suppliers, subcontractors and homeweavers start working digitally

One of the biggest gaps in traditional craft supply chains is not quality. It is visibility.

On Thursday, 2 April 2026, I attended the PasarMIKRO Digitalization Kickoff Training for the rattan craft ecosystem in Cirebon. It showed me again why closing that gap matters at scale.

The challenge

The room was full of suppliers, subcontractors and homeweavers who have been in business for years, some for more than a decade, without a single digital record. That is not because they lack capability. It is because the right system was never built for them.

So transactions run on manual forestry forms, buyers and importers need an audit trail from raw material to finished product, and homeworkers have never had formal documentation of their labor.

What we did

What we are solving through PasarMIKRO is concrete:

• Transaction traceability from end to end between suppliers, producers and finished goods, replacing manual forestry forms entirely.
• Raw material-to-product mapping that gives buyers and importers the audit trail they require.
• Financial management tools built for micro and small enterprises: cash position, payables and receivables, all in one place.
• Workforce digitization: attendance and output records for homeworkers who have never had formal documentation of their labor.

At the training I talked with Ibu Sri Hanifa. Her family business has been running for 15 years and employs 53 homeweavers who produce export-grade rattan products. Her enthusiasm was not about the app itself. It was about what the app opens up: access to higher-quality buyers, stronger business credibility, and a system that finally reflects the scale of what her family has built.

These activities were made possible with the support of DEG Impulse.

Results

This was a kickoff, so we are not reporting figures yet. What the day did:

• Brought suppliers, subcontractors and homeweavers from the Cirebon rattan ecosystem together to start the digitalization program.
• Showed that business owners such as Ibu Sri Hanifa see digital records as a route to better buyers and stronger credibility, not as an end in themselves.

That is the real value here. PasarMIKRO is not digitizing for the sake of it. We are building the infrastructure that makes underserved supply chains investable, traceable and ready for buyers.

What is next

The full rollout continues through December 2026. The foundation is being built now.