National Technology Day: Fintech and Peer-to-Peer Lending Make Investing Easy for All
There is something special about this year’s National Technology Day, which falls on August 10. For a few years now, Indonesia has been witnessing unprecedented developments in the world of financial technology (fintech), including innovation in mobile payments, crowdfunding, and peer-to-peer lending. Today, the fintech crowd in Indonesia is abuzz with innovations and breakthroughs that are changing the landscape of financial services in the country.
Many of those innovations come from companies (or fintech startups) and institutions that do not belong to the traditional financial and banking system. Driven by non-bank entities, these radical changes in the industry are challenging conventional business models and creating new market opportunities. More significantly, fintech innovations make financial services more accessible to a larger number of people, thus accelerating financial inclusion.
Read also: Fintech in Indonesia: Between Formality of Regulation and Financial Inclusion
One of the most popular fintech sectors in Indonesia is peer-to-peer lending, the practice of lending money to individuals or businesses via an online platform that matches investors with borrowers. These P2P lending platforms are using technology to make investing a breeze. The online platforms are accessible to anyone with an internet connection; both the business owners looking to borrow some money to grow their businesses and the lenders or investors looking to earn money by investing can simply go online, register on the website and apply for a loan or fund one.
Mekar (PT Sampoerna Wirausaha) is among the fintech companies in Indonesia that offer peer-to-peer lending services. But unlike most P2P lending companies, Mekar focuses its lending services on Indonesian small businesses (the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, or UMKM). The loans that investors are funding through Mekar’s P2P lending platform, https://mekar.id/en/, are all small business loans, productive loans that are used to finance the UMKM’s growth and business expansion.
Furthermore, Mekar cooperates with financial institutions such as savings and loan cooperatives with offices in many regions in the country. This ensures that Mekar’s services are available to UMKM in small villages, and not just in the largest cities. Mekar’s partners also make sure that the loans only go to small businesses that have positive social and environmental impact.
UMKM growth and social and environmental responsibility are causes that many investors in the country care about. This is why Mekar’s business model attracts many investors who are always on the lookout for socially responsible investments (SRI). For them, SRI is virtually easier done in Mekar, where all the borrowers are vetted and the advance technology makes investing as simple and painless as it gets.
Nowadays, more and more savvy investors are looking for investments that are consistent with both their financial goals and personal values. If you are one of them, head to Mekar’s website and start your socially responsible investment today.
