A country deems to be categorised as 'developed' if it has at least 2% entrepreneurs. In Indonesia there are only 0.18% entrepreneurs. In response, Ibnu Wahid F.A., S.T.P., M.T. said that entrepreneurship became a choice that should be taken.
“Whatever the policy is, if we don’t grow entrepreneurship spirit, target growth will be difficult,†he said in his opening speech during Socialization of Students Entrepreneurial Program 2010 at Grha Sabha Pramana, Tuesday (9/3) at Universitas Gadjah Mada.
The effort to produce entrepreneurs is very important. UGM pays great attention to entrepreneurship. UGM Rector said in many occasions that he hoped some 15% of graduates would create jobs. "This is not a plaything. If it is implemented, there will be many opportunities for the development of entrepreneurship. Just imagine, if we assume that 15% are entrepreneurs, UGM and Jogjakarta will produce 800-900 new entrepreneurs every year," Ibnu Wahid explained.
Director of Students Affairs of UGM, Drs. Haryanto, M.Sc., said that Student Entrepreneurship Program has improved and is more organized. In fact, it is now supported by Center for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) of UGM. "This institution is supported by Directorate General of Higher Education to enable universities to have this kind of institution," said the man who is usually called Pak Sentot by his colleagues and students. Sentot hoped to provide an alternative for college graduates so that they no longer seek but create job. "We hope that in the future we can produce 5%, 10%, 15%, or even 20% job creators," he said.
He described that this is the Directorate General of Higher Education's program for student entrepreneurship development. "The Directorate General provides grants, but the management is left entirely to the university. In 2009, some 500 million rupiah was allocated for the association of private universities, 1 billion for state universities and 2 billion for World Class Universities. This year the amounts remain the same, except that the amount to World Class Universities receive is reduced to 1.5 billion rupiah," he explained. The funds are used as capital. Students compete to get them individually or in groups. For individuals, the maximum is 8 million and for groups 40 million.
The socialization is supported by PT Shell and Telkomsel, presenting three successful young entrepreneurs who started their business from Student Entrepreneurship Program. They are Agung Nugroho, owner of Simply Fresh Laundry which has a turnover of 36 billion in 2009, Saptuari Sugiharto (Kedai Digital), and Jaya Setiabudi (The Power of Kepepet).