A team of students from the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM), won second place at the GBSN 2025 Social Logistics Challenge. Organized by the Global Business School Network, the competition challenged participating teams to develop sustainable, technology-based social logistics solutions.
The online competition, held on Thursday (Nov. 13), was attended by 100 teams from 48 universities across 48 countries.
The UGM team, competing under the name Kiki’s Logistic Service, consisted of students from across study programs and faculties, including Jacques Ethan Nathanael Gultom (Accounting), Muhammad Rafi Lukmantoro (Accounting), Nabila Kaori Refonsa (Economics), and I Putu Adhimas Radiansyah Aryawan (Archaeology).
The team proposed developing LINTAS (Integrated Transportation-Aware Logistics).
Jacques Ethan Nathanael Gultom explained that LINTAS is a transportation management system (TMS) designed to optimize food distribution in remote areas of Indonesia, including Long Apari District, Mahakam Ulu Regency, East Kalimantan Province.
Through the competition, the UGM student team proposed a solution to address persistent challenges faced by geographically remote and isolated regions by ensuring consistent access to food supplies.
“What we proposed is a system that integrates multiple modes of transportation, community-based logistics networks, real-time supply data, and Continuous Replenishment Program (CRP) monitoring,” Gultom said at FEB UGM on Friday (Dec. 5).
By leveraging digital-based logistics management, the team’s proposed framework demonstrates how technology can strengthen supply chain resilience and food security in areas with limited infrastructure and connectivity.
Through the development of LINTAS, the team aims to resolve social logistics issues arising from Long Apari’s dependence on the Mahakam River as its primary distribution route.
During the dry season, Gultom explained, water levels drop, preventing boats from operating. This condition disrupts the entire supply chain, causing rice prices to soar to as high as IDR 1-1.2 million per 25 kilograms.
“Fuel also becomes scarce, electricity outages occur in rotation, and communication networks weaken,” he added.
The idea for developing LINTAS emerged after Gultom and the team conducted an in-depth analysis covering geography, infrastructure, food prices, and distribution chains.
The study revealed a clear pattern: Long Apari has a single point of failure along the Mahakam River. Based on this finding, LINTAS was designed to ensure that distribution no longer relies on a single route.
“Through LINTAS, we aim to break this annual cycle by creating a more integrated transportation system with logistics hubs, multimodal routes, and a TMS integrated with IoT to monitor goods flows in real time,” he explained.
Nabila Kaori Refonsa shared that participating in the competition provided valuable experience for the entire team.
From the preliminary rounds to the finals, one particularly memorable moment was the opportunity to watch the Better Vietnam team from BI Norwegian Business School deliver its presentation, which secured first place.
“In terms of substance and presentation design, their work was indeed solid and impressive. Nevertheless, we are grateful to have competed with 100 teams from 48 universities. During the final, we did our best to present our solution within just ten minutes using the PPT deck we developed, so every detail had to be concise, sharp, and on point,” Refonsa said.
She expressed her gratitude for the meaningful learning experience gained through the competition. She emphasized that the most important lesson was not being afraid to try, as results will never be known without taking the first step, and that the achievement was the result of the team’s strong collaboration and hard work.
“We would like to thank Dr. Ahmad Zaki for his support as our academic supervisor, and FEB UGM for facilitating mentoring sessions. We hope to continue achieving excellence and bringing pride to our faculty and university,” she concluded.
Reporter: FEB UGM/Kurnia Ekaptiningrum
Author: Agung Nugroho
Post-editor: Rajendra Arya
Illustration: Freepik