SUMENEP - Starting from being a BRI loan customer, now Sunaie has successfully become a BRILink Agent and UMi partner who has helped many people around her escape from financial problems. Yes, this woman from Pragaan Daya Village, Pragaan District, Sumenep Regency had problems with funding when running her grocery store business.

Despite having more than one grocery store, Sunaie often experiences losses. "In other places, grocery stores are getting more and more profitable, but in my case, I can’t even reach break-even point, because many people come here wanting to take loans. Even so, I am still willing to help them," said Sunaie.

Luckily, good fortune was still on Sunaie's side. In December 2022, when she intended to request for a loan, a BRI Mantri offered her to be a BRILink Agent, an offer she excitedly said yes to, because she hopes to be able to provide her grocery store’s users with practical and easy financial services.

Sure enough, when she first became a BRILink Agent, many people made various transactions in a day, including sending and withdrawing money, buying phone credit, and topping up e-wallets. In fact, Sunaie said that she could serve up to 20 people daily at her busiest days with at least 10-12 transactions.

By always managing to meet the targets while being a BRILink Agent, Sunaie finally got an offer to become an Umi (Ultra Micro) partner.

"I was appointed as a Umi partner in January 2023. When debtors paid back their loans to me, I usually deposited it directly to BRI. There was no delay at all in the deposit," she continued.

As a UMi partner, debtors who wanted to apply for a loan would usually come directly to her at her grocery store. The customers who often borrowed funds at her place were people she already knew.

“Most of the borrowers are people around me, too. After they came, on the same or the next day, I immediately applied for a loan to BRI. At first, I was only willing to lend Rp5 million per person, but over time, I can offer loans of 10 million per person,” she said.

From the beginning until now as a Umi partner, Sunaie has served dozens of customers with a total loan reaching hundreds of millions.

“On average, debtors use UMi Kece loans to run their businesses. Let’s say, if you have a goat farming business, the loan is usually used to purchase goats. If, for example, the loan is for farming needs, usually the money will be used to buy fertilizer, seeds, and farming tools in general,” said Sunaie.

According to Sunaie, being a BRILink Agent and, at the same time, a UMi partner is something she is very grateful for. In addition to being able to improve her economy, she can also help people around her with financial difficulties.

BRI Micro Business Director, Supari, added that the existence of AgenBRILink is expected to be able to build a micro-economic ecosystem, one of which is through the distribution of loans through BRILink UMi Partner Agents. UMi Partner Agents are agents who focus on distributing ultra-micro loans to the community, so they are expected to be able to provide benefits to all MSME actors in terms of providing working capital.

"The distribution of AgenBRILink is expected to educate the community about banking services and can maximize business opportunities and open businesses," said Supari. (***)