Empowering Housewives through Canang and Banten Trading Business Opportunities in Denpasar City

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FORMOSA NEWS - Denpasar - Academic Mentoring Empowers Denpasar Micro-Entrepreneurs to Modernize Traditional Offering Businesses through Digital Literacy. A team of economic researchers from Universitas Warmadewa conducted an empowerment program in Denpasar City, Bali, published in August 2026, to modernize traditional Balinese offering micro-enterprises. The study focused on helping local housewives involved in crafting and selling canang and banten essential ritual items in Balinese Hindu culture—transition from informal management to structured digital operations. Lead researcher A.A Ayu Erna Trisnadewi, alongside co-researchers A.A Sri Purnami and Ni Made Rustini from Universitas Warmadewa, guided local merchants through financial bookkeeping, cost-based pricing, and social media marketing. The initiative demonstrated how integrating digital tools and structured accounting can strengthen urban cultural micro-enterprises while protecting local household income.

Cultural Traditions Meet Modern Urban Demands

In Balinese Hindu daily life, canang and banten serve as vital spiritual offerings. While these items hold deep cultural and religious significance, rapid urbanization and changing work routines in Denpasar City have shifted consumer habits. Busy urban residents increasingly rely on ready-to-use ceremonial offerings. This ongoing demand presents a viable micro-business opportunity for suburban housewives. However, many informal business owners struggle to grow due to a lack of formal business management skills. Operators frequently mix personal household funds with business capital, set selling prices without accounting for material production costs, and rely exclusively on word-of-mouth promotion. Addressing these structural barriers is critical for bolstering urban economic resilience, closing digital literacy gaps, and supporting female micro-entrepreneurs in emerging markets.

Field Training and Participatory Mentoring Methods
The researchers applied a participatory action methodology to work directly with the "Canang Ayu" trading group, a home-based enterprise located in Dangin Puri, Denpasar City. Led by local merchant Gst Ketut Suciani, the group consists of five women producing daily and festival offerings. The project team—comprising three economics lecturers and two student field assistants—structured the initiative into distinct phases:

• Initial Needs Assessment: Socialization and interactive discussions to pinpoint management and marketing bottlenecks.
  
• Financial Governance Workshops: Hands-on training covering cash-book entries, separating household expenses from business capital, and calculating raw material, labor, and overhead costs.
  
• Digital Marketing Integration: Setup and customization of WhatsApp Business, Instagram catalogs, and QRIS digital payment systems.
  
• On-Site Coaching: Step-by-step guidance to reinforce daily transaction logging, visual product presentation, and digital customer communication.
  

Key Findings Show Improved Financial and Digital Capabilities
The intervention yielded immediate operational improvements among the participating enterprise members:

• Separation of Finances: Group members successfully transitioned from unrecorded cash flows to using standardized daily cash books, effectively isolating business operating capital from household expenditures.
  
• Cost-Based Pricing Accuracy: Participants learned to calculate actual production costs, preventing underpriced sales during non-peak periods and securing profit margins.
  
• Adoption of E-Commerce and Digital Payments: The enterprise established digital storefronts on WhatsApp Business and Instagram to capture orders from urban office workers, integrated with Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) payment processing.
  
• Outcome Targets: Program evaluations revealed that 80% of group members successfully mastered fundamental cash-book record-keeping and basic social media marketing routines.
  

Real-World Impact and Broader Economic Policy Implications
This empowerment initiative highlights a practical blueprint for preserving local cultural traditions while increasing community economic self-reliance. For municipal policymakers and micro-finance institutions, the project shows that targeted, low-cost digital interventions can quickly elevate home-based vendors into sustainable micro-enterprises. By teaching women financial independence and modern digital marketing, such programs strengthen community economic stability across Southeast Asia's informal markets. Furthermore, integrating university students as field mentors bridges higher education with real-world community development.

Author Profiles
A.A Ayu Erna Trisnadewi, M.Si. is a faculty member and researcher in the Faculty of Economics and Business at Universitas Warmadewa, specializing in financial accounting, regional public finance, and community business governance.
A.A Sri Purnami, S.E., M.Si. is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Economics and Business at Universitas Warmadewa, focusing on business management, accounting systems, and micro-enterprise development.
Ni Made Rustini, S.E., M.M. is an academic and researcher at Universitas Warmadewa with expertise in marketing strategies, human resource development, and small-business management.

Source
A.A Ayu Erna Trisnadewi, A.A Sri Purnami, Ni Made Rustini. Empowering Housewives through Canang and Banten Trading Business Opportunities in Denpasar City. Asian Journal of Community Services (AJCS). Vol. 5, No. 8, Halaman 599–606.
DOI : https://doi.org/10.55927/ajcs.v5i8.58
URL: https://journalajcs.my.id/index.php/ajcs