Sinta Banana, Chip Shop in Lampung Shares Business Know-how

Sinta, 36, speaks energetically about her banana chip business. Aside from earning a profit from the business, she is also actively and freely sharing her knowledge if managing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)

KOMPAS/VINA OKTAVIA

Sinta

At the end of January 2023, the Keripik Shinta shop, located on PU alley off Jl. Pagar Alam in Segala Mider subdistrict, West Tanjung Karang district, Lampung, was being visited by dozens of school students from Tanggamus regency, Lampung, who wanted to learn about running a culinary business.

Sinta and her husband, Heru Kurniawan, warmly welcomed the students, who were then shown the process of producing banana chips in a building to the rear, not far from the main shop. The students were given an opportunity to discuss developing a culinary business in a meeting room.

Unlike other shops that sell chips, Sinta has designed her shop as a place where people can learn about how the business is run. She often hosts students from schools and universities, as well as migrant workers, wishing to learn who are interested in learning about her banana chip business.

“I want a lot more people to become successful businesspeople. I want those engaged in MSMEs to be promoted and make further headway,” Sinta said as she served customers and received visitors at her shop on Monday (30/1/2023).

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The ups and downs she experienced in building her business has motivated Sinta to continue sharing her knowledge. Over a decade ago, Sinta had a valuable experience when she struggled to save her business as it almost collapsed.

Sinta has been running a banana chip business since 2005, when she was in the 12th grade. At the time, she was determined to pursue her studies at university despite her family’s economic difficulty. She began her business by buying 1-2 kilograms of banana chips and packing them into small bags, selling the packaged chips for Rp 1,000 per bag.

She used the profit she saved from her small business to pay her tuition at Lampung University’s business school. Sinta had to work hard as she divided her time between her studies and distributing the packaged chips to food stalls and canteens to sell.

To improve her business skills, she joined a training workshop on banana chip production provided by the Bandar Lampung Industry Office. She also apprenticed at a banana chip business in the city.

In 2007, Sinta placed third in an entrepreneurship competition held by the Bandar Lampung administration.

With experience, Sinta noticed that the Lampung market was an open opportunity to start a banana chip business. While attending university, she learned how to run such a business. She also joined various entrepreneurship contests.

In 2007, Sinta placed third in an entrepreneurship competition held by the Bandar Lampung administration. In the following year, she took part in the Bank Mandiri Young Entrepreneurs Competition and placed third nationwide.

She received a cash prize of Rp 15 million as well as a six-month training course on developing small businesses. She used her prize money to promote her business and open a physical store. To cover her shortage in capital, Sinta bravely took out a Rp 100 million business loan from a bank. She then developed her shop and used the capital to increase production.

Fortunately, Sinta had the full support of the Bandar Lampung administration. She received regular training in processing, packaging and digitally marketing her products. She was also provided with business assistance in the form of equipment, including banana chip fryers and dryers.

The municipal administration also assisted Sinta in dealing with the documents needed to license and certify her business. It also helped promote her banana chip products frequently at various exhibitions inside and outside the city.

KOMPAS/VINA OKTAVIA

Sinta

Growing bigger

Sinta’s banana chip business expanded. But Sinta had a bitter experience in 2010, when she was deceived by her business partner and was left with a debt totaling Rp 1 billion. She became depressed as her business nearly became insolvent.

But Sinta refused to give up. She paid the debts in installments by selling some assets. She also sold several items she had won from entrepreneurship competitions, such as a motorcycle, and the dowry from her husband to save her banana chip business.

“I got a valuable lesson from the misfortune and focused on reorganizing the business. I made many innovations in the products and packaging to increase sales,” she said.

Besides producing banana chips of various flavors, Sinta also made banana chips in different shapes, such as chips cut with serrated knives, so they looked more attractive. She also created soft banana chips to meet market demand.

Sinta now makes a variety of new products to give as gifts, like banana pie, bolu pisang (steamed banana cake) and frozen banana fritters. Sinta’s seriousness in maintaining product quality earned her business the One Village One Product certificate in 2018.

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Since 2014, she has been entrusted with fostering migrant workers through the Mandiri Sahabatku (My independent friends) program. She teaches migrant workers in different countries how to run a banana chip business, providing the training online. In addition, Sinta also receives migrant workers as apprentices at her shop. Some migrant workers from East Java and Central Java have gone home to start their own banana chip businesses.

Wanting to share her success, Sinta invites MSME entrepreneurs in Bandar Lampung to upscale their businesses. She provides guidance on how to prepare various documents for business licenses and product certificates. She also helps ope the way for the new entrepreneurs in communicating with regional offices and banks.

Today, Sinta is the chair of the Bangek Banana Chip Producers Cooperative. She helps MSMEs benefit from the zero percent interest capital loans program for businesses that was launched by the Bandar Lampung administration. The program provides assistance to entrepreneurs in obtaining capital loans from banks, with the local administration covering the interest.

She fully understands that, besides personal determination and motivation, developing a business needs support from the government, banks and the local community. For this reason, she wants to keep building the Bandar Lampung ecosystem to support the development of local MSMEs.

Sinta

Born: Bandar Lampung, 24 Oct. 1986

Education:

- SDN 2 Segalamider state elementary school (1993-1999)

- SMPN 10 Bandar Lampung state junior high school (1999-2002)

- SMAN 7 Bandar Lampung state senior high school (2002-2005)

- Bachelor in Development Economics, Lampung University (2005-2011)

Organizations:

- Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association (2021)

- Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association, Lampung Regional Board (2021)

- Chairperson, Bangek Banana Chip Producers Cooperative (2020-present)

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.