Pushing the Indonesian young entrepreneurs, Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus) hosted the Independent Entrepreneurship Kick-Off Program (WMK). The event was attended by 400 students both from Udinus and other universities in Indonesia marking the beginning of the program.  

Udinus was chosen as one of the Implementing Colleges (PTP) out of 34 universities that hosted this program. The Independent Entrepreneurship Program at Udinus had ‘Precision Technopreneurship’ as its theme. The kick-off was held on the 3rd floor of the E building and attended by the whole academic community at Udinus.

The Chief Management of the 2023 WMK at Udinus, Dr. Rindra Yusiamto, M.T., said that Udinus was among the 34 Implementing Colleges (PTP) of this program. The ‘Precision Technopreneurship’ theme meant that in implementing the Independent Entrepreneurship program, Udinus focused on developing a technology precision-based program in which it used Artificial and Business Intelligence as its approach to Reinforce the Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.

There were 400 students attending the WMK program at Udinus. Roughly 60% or 240 of them were Students at Udinus, whereas another 40%, or 160 came from other universities. Rindra revealed that the farthest students from the campus participating in this event arrived from Lampung. He added that their burning enthusiasm might improve the number of Young Indonesian Entrepreneurs.

“We will push the students to be more competent so they could be superior human resources. Additionally, we also aim to change their mindsets regarding entrepreneurship, thus they will be able to provide themselves with entrepreneurial competence resulting in them creating their very own business prototypes,” he emphasized.

The Chancellor at Udinus, Prof. Dr. Ir. Edi Noersasongko, M.Kom., uttered that this WMK Program could serve as a very impactful platform for students as the students got the opportunity to obtain knowledge and direct instructions in establishing a business from various talented mentors. Furthermore, the WMK program might encourage Indonesian youths to be entrepreneurs.

“The WMK Program is an extraordinary program and we will encourage our students to be talented entrepreneurs,” The chancellor said.

The Independent Entrepreneurship Kick-off Program was opened by Gammaliel Waney, S.T., MLA., the Head of the Independent Entrepreneurship program from The Ministry of Education and the chancellor accompanied by Dr. Rindra Yusianto, M.T.

The Participant Obtained Priceless Knowledge in the Entrepreneurship Talkshow

Following the WMK program opening, there were 3 featured speakers engaging in a talkshow in which they gave the participants entrepreneurial insight. Those speakers were Prof. Dr. Pulung Nurtantio Andono, S.T., M.Kom. (The Vice Chancellor IV of the Research and Partnership Sector, Dr. Daniel Lukito, ST., M.M., M.Sc IB., CFP., CLC (The Founder of Jordan Plastics), and Agung Triano Nugroho (a Practitioner and an alumnus of Udinus).

Dr. Daniel Lukito encouraged the participants to understand business conditions and see the advantages he possessed. He also added that the participants needed to fully master their business first, one of which was the intended business knowledge.

“To establish suistanable business, you need to earn more and more entrepreneurial knowledge. Not only that but mastering your business such as hooking the market, describing the product excellences, etc is also necessary.,” he explained.

In modern times, a successful entrepreneur is a businessman that could foresee changes, hear changes, and apply changes. Therefore, technology could not be separated from development and entrepreneurship.

“There are two things to do in running a technology-based business. First, we should know its basic needs and second, we must be aware of its technological needs,” Prof. Dr. Pulung Nurtantio Andono, S.T., M.Kom., explained.

The WMK Program at Udinus Received Appreciation from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology

The WMK Program initiated by The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbud Ristek) was aimed at students from various educational levels ranging from Diploma, Applied Science Bachelor, Bachelor, and Master. Not only should the participants be at least in their third semester, but they also must complete their administrations and the needed files to fulfill the requirements stated on the WMK official website. 

In his interview, Shandy Aditya, BIB., MPBS., the Chief Organizer of the Independent Entrepreneurship Headquarter Kemendikbud Ristek, revealed that the WMK Program was among the solutions to reduce the educated unemployment rate in Indonesia.

“We were granted the freedom to develop this program and partner with many universities, Udinus is one of those 34 universities scattered across the nation. Our outputs in the form of entrepreneurial experience earned by 12 thousand students and prototypes out of those ideas,” he explained.

According to Shandy, the advantage of participating in this program was that it did not solely focus on a specific Implementing College (PTP), but instead, the organizers would involve coach mentors and several small business partners to share their precious knowledge and insight. This WMK Program had already been trusted so that the programs could be converted into 20 Semester Credit Systems. Shandy also appreciated Udinus’ efforts in successfully encouraging students and partners to participate in the 2023 WMK Program

“The students will be granted letters of recommendation to convert those Semester Credit Systems. Each university certainly has its own way to educate these young entrepreneurs, for example, Udinus pushes its students to focus on Technopreneurship,” Shandy added. (Humas Udinus/Alex. Foto: Humas Udinus)