As many as 1,132 young people from 29 provinces in Indonesia will participate in Sociopreneur Muda Indonesia (Soprema) event, a competition for young social entrepreneurs. Facilitated by Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM, it is divided into two categories for 90 business groups: start up and kick off.
Director of Soprema, Dr.Hempri Suyatna, said the event was expected to develop entrepreneurship spirit among young people to resolve social and economic issues among society and reduce unemployment in regions. ”Unemployment figure among university graduates has reached 15 percent, so we hope this programme would be a solution to resolve the social and ecological problems,” said Hempri.
According to Hempri, the event would follow with supervision and access provision to winner entrepreneurs. “They will not stop at just by being winners but will have a follow-up programme,” he said.
Participants will further join an expo at Grha Sabha Pramana UGM by promoting their products.
Vice-Dean of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM, Dr. Wawan Mas'udi, said Soprema was the only event for young entrepreneurs that is run by a university.
“There’s no other similar programme from other universities. Through this event, we want to reinstate the position of UGM as socioentrepreneur university,” he said.
Besides, Wawan said, Soprema also encouraged entrepreneurship mentality among young entrepreneurs. “The high rate of interest among the young people needs to be responded and managed seriously,” he said.
UGM Director of Student Affairs, Dr. Suharyadi, expected the participants to be pioneers in their own region. “Just imagine, if each participant of this event becomes the pioneer in their region, social problems can then be resolved,” he said.
Assistant to Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth, Drs. Ponijan M.Pd., said the support from the Ministry to Soprema was to appreciate and detect the talents of young people in entrepreneurship. He added the entrepreneurial programme had the role for character building. The government would further follow up by giving training, guidance, and capital access. “We would giveo guidacce, promotion, and capital access,” he said.