SMES
Ma Icih and her Tweeters
When jobs are scarce, the unemployed try their hand at business. Some succeed, others fall. When hard times hit, the informal sector provides people with a safety cushion. Ma Icih spicy cassava chips is one of many small enterprises in Indonesia making good use of high-technology to market a modest product.
June 15, 2011
INSIDE a 150-square-meter warehouse, somewhere in the Bandung highlands of West Java, 10 men work at feverish pace, frying spicy seblak or cassava chips in two gigantic woks. Two of them handle the frying with nimble moves. Two more prepare the next batch of chips to be fried. The rest package the chips into thousands of plastic bags of this popular delicacy. Branded as Ma Icih chips, today they are a sell-out not only at local markets but as far
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