Friday afternoon, the cool air of the Lembang mountains welcomed the SUAR Team who visited Cikahuripan Village, Lembang, West Java. At that time, we came to one of the micro, small and medium enterprisesUMKM) developed by 35-year-old Lina Heriyanti.

The heavy rain that poured all the way to Bandung made the roads muddy and the temperature colder than usual. A friendly figure emerged from the door to greet the SUAR team. She is Lina Heriyanti (35 years old), the founder of Master Lemon branded bottled drinks.

Inside his 5 x 6 meter house, there were business banners, and a blackboard containing Master Lemon's plans and business. There are five bottles of Master Lemon branded lemon syrup lined up on the table, next to which are also lined up several bottles of honey lemon, and strawberry drinks.

The lemon business started with her husband, who is a vegetable farmer. In 2016, Lina and her husband agreed to choose lemons because at that time, there was not too much lemon processing, especially in the Lembang area.

In just 3 square meters of land, the first lemons grew with hope.

However, everything changed when the pandemic hit, bringing the agro-tourism plan to a halt. But blessings came from another way, due to the high need for vitamin C intake, making lemons during the pandemic excellent.

The sales of Master Lemon exploded after Covid-19 because at that time, people needed a source of vitamins for endurance.

From starting with 3 square meters, the land has grown to 16 hectares.

The opportunity to develop processed lemon products came about because Lina saw the many benefits obtained from lemons, namely a source of vitamin C, helping skin health, maintaining body power and preventing dehydration.

Lemon planting began in 2016, then waited two years until entering the harvest period in 2018. Lina began to develop processed lemon products into several products such as lemon drinks, lemon juice, and lemon honey in 2019 under the brand Master Lemon.

The Master Lemon brand itself is taken from the name of her second child named Dewantara Master, because at the time of starting the business, Lina was pregnant with a master. She believes the power of a child's name will bring blessings in business, from that event, Lina branded her lemon business with the name Master Lemon.

Lina markets Master Lemon through several networks such as supermarkets, and the Reseller system, which has spread in Jakarta, Cirebon, Bekasi and even 75% of people in Bandung have become Master Lemon resellers.

The business that Lina founded eventually grew as sweet as the lemons she planted. Now, Lina is a successful entrepreneur in the field of lemon processing under the brand Master Lemon.

Thanks to his patience, persistence and perseverance, Master Lemon is now well known throughout Indonesia and has become one of the proud products of Cikahuripan Village, Lembang, West Java.

Get an Amartha loan

The journey of the lemon master business developed by Lina is like a roller coaster, at the beginning of business development, Lina did not have the capital to buy equipment for squeezing machines, stoves, bottles, plastic for packaging.

Lina refused to borrow capital from banks because there were many requirements and collateral, then one of her reseller friends suggested that Lina try the Amartha application.

She took the advice and used Amartha as a source of capital for her business. The first time she used Amartha, she found no difficulties and the loan application was very friendly, as long as the requirements were met then the loan was disbursed immediately.

"I don't want to borrow from banks because there are many requirements and not necessarily approved, when I tried Amartha, the business capital loan was immediately approved and not complicated," he told SUAR.

The initial capital obtained from Amartha was Rp 3 million, then gradually increased to Rp 7 million to get a loan of up to Rp 10 million.

Lina has been an amartha partner since 2019 until now, thanks to amartha, Master Lemon's business continues to grow and amartha is one of the parties who contributed to Master Lemon's success.

"Amartha's main vision is very interesting because it helps empower small and medium enterprises managed by women in rural areas," he said.

As a trusted partner of Amartha, Master Lemon is often involved in UMKM exhibitions in Jakarta and Lina is often asked as a speaker.

"One of the advantages of Amartha is that the billing is very polite, friendly and can be discussed if there are difficulties," he said.

Explode

Lina said that Master Lemon's income is uncertain, if the order is quiet a day the turnover can reach Rp 2 million, when it is busy a day the turnover reaches Rp 4 million.

Sold at IDR 50,000 per bottle, he admits that the biggest income is when Covid-19, which can reach IDR 8 million a day because of Master Lemon, is often ordered and becomes a favorite product.

"I am proud of this achievement, from a small village to penetrating Indonesia, Master Lemon is loved by the people as a source of vitamins," he said.

Lina said the lemon master recipe is an original recipe not a copy, in developing the recipe, Lina discussed with her husband until she found the right formula.

Mrs. Lina's production is growing every year. She is now able to produce 600 -1,000 bottles of lemon juice and lemon honey a day, requiring around 600 kg of lemons per production.

In a month, more than 3,000 bottles are marketed to Bandung, Indramayu, Cirebon, Bekasi, and Jakarta. This product not only goes to the direct market, but also into the hands of resellers who have become loyal customers.

Lemon drink products are made with practical packaging and easy to carry everywhere as a source of vitamin C, lemon juice products are widely used as infused water for diets and honey lemon products are a variety of products with a mixture of honey for stamina.

Hope

Successfully doing business and growing with Amartha, Lina also recommends Amartha to her friends who want to start a business but are confused about finding capital.

"Master Lemon inspires other UMKM entrepreneurs in Lembang, I also offer them to use Amartha as a solution for limited business capital," he said.

He hopes that Amartha's business will grow and remain a loyal friend of UMKM players as an uncomplicated financial platform.

Amartha can bring UMKM to the next level and becoming an Amartha partner is an extraordinary achievement, from the unnoticed Master Lemon business to the widely recognized Master Lemon, all because of Amartha's help.

Responding to this, Vice President Public Relations of PT Amartha Mikro Fintek (Amartha) Harumi Supit said Master Lemon is Amartha's priority partner because its business owner Lina Heriyanti utilizes business capital appropriately.

In addition, Amartha supports UMKM because UMKM are the backbone of the Indonesian economy that still has difficulty accessing capital. Through digital technology, Amartha is here to overcome this problem by providing access to financing, financial and digital assistance, and creating multiple social and economic impacts. 

"Amartha bridges UMKM with investors to get funding, overcoming difficulties in accessing financing due to lack of collateral or financial literacy," he told SUAR in Jakarta (27/10).

Amartha presents digital financial services that are easily accessible through applications to help rural communities and UMKM, ranging from payments, investments, to capital.

In addition to capital, Amartha also provides regular mentoring and financial and digital literacy education so that UMKM can manage their businesses better and utilize technology to grow.

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