Sriwijaya University Encourages SMEs in Tanjung Atap Barat to Become Greener and More Competitive

The Community Service Faculty Team for the Entrepreneurship Program in the Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics, Sriwijaya University—comprising Eka Meirawati, Anton Indra Budiman, Asfeni Nurullah, Ruth Samantha Hamzah, Nurul Aliyah, and Muthi’a Handayani, conducted training on clean production and simple waste management for MSME operators in Tanjung Atap Barat Village, Tanjung Batu Subdistrict, Ogan Ilir Regency, South Sumatra. The main activities took place on Saturday, August 22, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. WIB in the form of an interactive seminar and workshop involving faculty members, student mentors, and MSME operators.

This program is designed to help MSMEs improve the efficiency of their use of raw materials, water, and energy, while fostering better waste management practices. Participants were also introduced to the concepts of green entrepreneurship, the circular economy, and sustainable entrepreneurship so that environmentally friendly practices can go hand in hand with increased business competitiveness.

Learning from Production to Marketing

The community service series did not stop at simply delivering the material. Prior to the main activities, the team conducted coordination, initial observations, in-depth interviews, and focused group discussions with the MSME groups processing water hyacinth. Field findings were then used to tailor the materials to the partners’ needs, particularly regarding production efficiency, waste management, business record-keeping, product quality, and marketing.

During the training sessions, participants learned how to apply the 3R principles (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), sort waste, and transform waste and natural materials into value-added products. The curriculum also covered the development of simple production SOPs, the use of standard measurements, tracking raw materials and operating costs, calculating costs and profits, quality control, green branding, and digital marketing.

A hands-on approach was chosen to make the material easier to apply in daily business activities. In this way, clean production is understood not only as an effort to protect the environment but also as a strategy to reduce waste, cut costs, maintain consistent quality, and open up opportunities for new product development.

Evaluation Shows Positive Participant Feedback

Participants took a pre-test before the training and a post-test at the end of the program. Based on the post-training evaluation, understanding of the concept of clean production received a 100 percent positive response. Between 60 and 67 percent of participants strongly agreed that the training helped improve business efficiency, productivity, and product quality. Awareness of the importance of environmentally friendly business practices also received a 67 percent “strongly agree” response, while 73 percent of participants strongly agreed with their satisfaction with the training program.

These results indicate that the topics of clean production and waste management are relevant to the needs of local MSME operators. However, the team assessed that ongoing mentoring remains essential so that the knowledge gained can be consistently applied—particularly in raw material and energy efficiency, the implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs), cost tracking, waste management, product quality improvement, and digital marketing.

Community Service Aimed at Sustainability

As a follow-up, the program is focused on providing guidance on implementing clean production, strengthening 3R-based waste management, improving product quality and operational efficiency, strengthening management and marketing, developing partnership networks, and conducting periodic monitoring and evaluation. It is also hoped that this training model can be developed and replicated among other MSME groups facing similar challenges.

This initiative supports efforts to empower the local economy while promoting more responsible consumption and production practices. Through collaboration between universities and the community, MSMEs are expected to become increasingly capable of developing businesses that are efficient, productive, innovative, and environmentally friendly.

Group photo of participants, the community service team, and other stakeholders after the series of activities. Photo: Community Service Team Documentation.

Implementation team: Eka Meirawati, Anton Indra Budiman, Asfeni Nurullah, Ruth Samantha Hamzah, Nurul Aliyah, and Muthi’a Handayani.