The government of Garut Regency, West Java, is targeting that the 2023 Garut Festival can involve a thousand small and medium industries (IKM) so that IKM can grow if their products continue to be marketed. Garut Regent Rudy Gunawan, Sunday, said that next year his party hopes to invite a thousand IKM actors. He said the Garut Regency Government together with other stakeholders held the 2022 Garut Festival activities from 8 to 10 December 2022 which involved 150 IKM of various types of products such as culinary and fashion. Similar activities next year, he said, must be even bigger with the venue not only in Garut Square, but can reach Jalan Ahmad Yani, Garut City. The event, he continued, was a form of appreciation from the government for business actors to progress and develop after their businesses were disrupted due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Regent added that the 2022 Garut Festival would not only showcase Garut's typical IKM products, but would also serve as a bridge for business actors to collaborate with domestic and foreign investors through the "Investor and Business Matching" event which was jointly held with Telkom University.
The Garut Regent said this activity was a series of meetings between business actors and 'start ups' in Garut Regency with several investors who would provide support to business actors, both regarding distribution, suppliers, capital, marketing, technology, and so on. "This is sustainable, called 'business matching', which is continuous, evaluated every three months or six months to where, so there is a roadmap for the business," said the Regent. Head of the Garut Industry, Trade, Energy and Mineral Resources (Disperindag ESDM) Office, Nia Gania Karyana added, his party together with Telkom University had selected from 150 business actors to 75 business actors including 50 IKM and 25 start ups to further develop their marketing. "Hopefully with the 'business matching' that will occur today, there will not only be buyers but at least there will be a cooperation framework, which is the most important thing. So, it will not only bring together buyers and business actors but will become a reference for us to cooperate. ,” he said. The chief executive and representative from Telkom University, Choiria Anggraini, said that several investors who attended included state-owned companies, banks, and several other investors. He said that previously some time ago he had trained a number of business actors in Garut to prepare themselves to deal with investors so they could be interested and willing to work together. "This means that this is a start to create a sustainable business and collaboration that is rooted in multi-stakeholders," he said.
