Small Businesses
The Halal Product Assurance Organizing Body (BPJPH) has opened a quota of 1.35 million Free Halal Certificates (SEHATI) for 2026 for micro and small business operators (UMK) across Indonesia. This facilitation is provided through a self-declare scheme with mentoring to enhance the competitiveness of their halal products. BPJPH Head Ahmad Haikal Hasan stated that this initiative is a government affirmation to strengthen the UMK sector, which is vital to the national economy.
Reported by AI
Canadian Alex St-Jean and his Japanese wife Mami run the soy wax candle business North Candles from a renovated abandoned house in Taiki, Hokkaido. The couple met in 2016 on a vegetable farm in British Columbia while Mami was backpacking and Alex was a university student volunteering. They describe home as 'the family we’ve created in Hokkaido.'