Lulusan UGM Harus Bergerak Memberdayakan Masyarakat
Lulusan UGM Harus Bergerak Memberdayakan Masyarakat
More than three thousand UGM students will graduate on Wednesday (24/8) and Thursday (25/8). After graduation, their next challenge would be to enter the workforce. The graduates will pursue a variety of different areas, but as a graduate of UGM, they have the responsibility to not only work for themselves, but also for the community.
"UGM graduates should act and should be able to empower the community," said the alumnus of Faculty of Medicine UGM and founder of Shoes and Care, dr. Tirta Hudhi, in a graduation briefing programs, Tuesday (23/8), at Graha Sabha Pramana UGM.
Starting from his determination to ease the burden of his parents, since the beginning of college he had looked for ways to earn money to buy various needs. Finally, he decided to start a business. Various attempts he had tried, but not all of them have found success. Frequently, he had to quit the business and re-start from scratch.
"I went bankrupt once and only have 700 thousand to spend for two months. Finally, I survived by eating stale bread and dried rice," he said.
Not stopping there, when re-starting his business, he was duped by his business partner. However, now he managed to achieve success through shoe care business which he named Shoes and Care. Starting from the shoe wash services which he did in his boarding house, now Shoes and Care already has 21 branches in 11 cities in Indonesia.
"Half of my employees are fresh graduates, because they must be given the opportunity to be able to develop. The other half are street children that I recruit so they can have a better life," said Tirta.
Social value is what he showed both in business and in the profession as a doctor which he elaborated today. He was determined to carry out both things together, although it takes much of his time.
"I have to do my morning duty in the clinic, I spend my afternoon washing the shoes, then I study until midnight, so I sleep only 4 hours. People say that businessman could not work professionally, but I want to break that notion," he said.
Balancing between business activities and profession is what Agus Soeparto does. The graduate from Anthropology UGM since two years ago became the personal photographer of President Joko Widodo.
In front of the graduating students, he gave the advice that in order to enter the professional world, university graduates have to equip themselves with the necessary competence. This has become one of the factors that make him capable of running a successful profession as a photographer as well as improving his business in the field of aerial photography.
"Even though my background is anthropology, but I equip myself with various competencies for my profession, I learn about photography, design, journalism, and others. Graduates from any background should have multidisciplinary competencies that can be used, instead of depending on one field only," he said.