The COVID-19 pandemic, which has been going on for the past two years, has had a major impact on society. Not only the social and health sectors, but also the economic sector. Restrictions on activities in order to reduce the chain of virus spread have forced many companies to take the last option, reducing the number of workers. This also causes the unemployment rate to increase. Not only because of the restrictions, but also the people’s purchasing power has decreased. Departing from this, two lecturers of the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Brawijaya (FEB-UB), namely Dr. Wuryan Andayani, SE., Msi, CA, CSRS, CSRA. and Prof. Dr. Sutrisno T, SE, Ak, MSi., took the initiative to empower the community through the Doctoral Service program in Candimulyo Village, Jombang.
The main objective of this community empowerment is to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the economy of Candimulyo Village community, educate the public about creative industries that have high selling value and can be marketed online, and educate the public about food businesses that can be run with small initial capital.
Dr. Wuryan as the head of this program invites third parties, namely Bae Dimsum (Food and Beverage sector, especially dim sum) and EcoPrint (creative industry sector engaged in environmentally friendly batik printing).
The event, which was held on 19-20 June 2021, was held at the Hall of Candimulyo Village, Jombang, and was attended by 40 housewives of the village. In the practice, this program adheres to strict health protocols by only inviting a limited number of participants.
On the first day, the event was opened by Prof. Sutrisno, who then continued with training on making EcoPrint. EcoPrint was chosen as the training material because in addition to being environmentally friendly, EcoPrint has a high selling value.
“Each EcoPrint has different results because the ingredients used from nature will not be exactly the same, which makes the exclusivity of this item high. EcoPrint materials are also easy to obtain, so people don’t need more capital to look for raw materials,” said Prof. Sutrisno.
Meanwhile, the second day was filled by Bae Dimsum, a business in the field of Food and Beverage that sells dim sum. Opened by Dr. Wuryan, this training was continued with the delivery of material by the owner of Bae Dimsum, Achmad Faizal Lazuardian.
“The purpose of choosing dim sum as a training theme is that it is easy to make but has economic value. Making dim sum does not require special tools so anyone can make it at home. In addition, dim sum also contains healthy ingredients in the form of protein and vegetables, so it is safe for consumption and healthy,” explained Dr. Wuryan.
With the implementation of this community empowerment, the economy of the Candimulyo community is expected to be better due to the COVID-19 pandemic and provide additional household income. [Wur/Humas UB/ Trans. Iir]
