STRENGTHENING SUSTAINABLE LOCAL ECONOMIES THROUGH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT AND RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN LOMBOK

Abstract

Building sustainable local economies in tourism-dependent regions requires a structural balance between community-level capacity and the ethical growth of private enterprises. This community service (Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat) initiative operationalizes this balance by examining the intersection of community empowerment and responsible entrepreneurship within the unique economic landscape of Mataram, Lombok. The project was carried out through collaborative partnerships with two prominent local anchor enterprises: NUTSAFIR Cookies, a benchmark in sustainable agro-industrial food processing, and Dwi Kristy Mutiara, a leader in high-value cultural pearl craftsmanship. The primary objective was to strengthen the local economic architecture by transforming community members from passive suppliers into active, economically empowered stakeholders within responsible corporate value chains. Employing a participatory action framework, the intervention implemented capacity-building modules focusing on sustainable resource management, ethical sourcing, financial literacy, and collaborative business networks. The findings reveal that synchronizing the business growth of anchor MSMEs with community empowerment significantly amplifies the local economic multiplier effect. NUTSAFIR’s localized agricultural sourcing and Dwi Kristy’s heritage-driven craft model effectively distributed economic returns directly to local farmers and artisans. This initiative demonstrates that responsible entrepreneurship, when backed by structured community empowerment, mitigates economic vulnerabilities and establishes a scalable, self-sustaining model for regional economic autonomy in Lombok.