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Jakarta, Aug 2: The latest data from the Central Statistics Agency noted that the unemployment rate in Indonesia this year reached 5.83 per cent or around 8.4 million people from the total working age population of 208.54 million people. Surprisingly, of this number, as many as 13.17 per cent of them, or around 1.2 million people, are educated unemployed, aka those who hold diplomas and bachelor’s degrees.
The high level of educated unemployment in Indonesia, according to the lecturer and Chair of the Independent Entrepreneurial Program at Prasetiya Mulya University, Dr Hesti Maheswari, occurred due to the lack of honing of entrepreneurial skills of students in Indonesia.
“As a result, when they don’t get a job, or leave their job due to layoffs, they are unemployed,” Hesti said on the sidelines of the Prasetiya Mulya University Creatifest event at the Mall of Indonesia, Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta recently.
To reduce the level of educated unemployment, the government through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) and the Ministry of Finance this year has launched the Independent Entrepreneurship program which was held on 17 campuses. Prasetiya Mulya University, as one of the program implementers, opens opportunities for students from other universities all over Indonesia to join the program.
“We are trusted by the government to transfer business knowledge contained in the Prasetiya Mulya University curriculum to students from other campuses. Therefore, we hope that the number of participants from other campuses will be more than those from Prasetiya Mulya University,” Hesti added.
In this program, he continued, the participants will get many benefits. Starting from free business science lectures for one semester at Prasetiya Mulya University, access to business model prototypes for them to run including the capital, to mentoring programs from experts on campus and practitioners.
To join this program, Hesti explained, students from any campus can apply by fulfilling a number of general requirements determined by the Ministry of Education and Culture. In addition, there is one special requirement that is determined by the Prasetiya Mulya University team, which is to make a proposal containing a narrative about their motivation to join the Merdeka Entrepreneurship program and the business ideas they propose.
“This program is open to students of any major, vocational, engineering, literature, social and political sciences, and so on.
We will select based on their motivations and business ideas, with the hope that after the program ends they can execute their ideas.”
Even the selected participants, said Hesti, will later get a semester credit unit equalization facility at their home campus.
The Importance of Business Science for Entrepreneurs
The Head of the Business Management Study Program at Prasetiya Mulya University, M. Setiawan Kusmulyono, MM., said that the selected Independent Entrepreneurs program participants will attend lectures according to the curriculum at Prasetiya Mulya University.
“At Prasetiya Mulya, we designed the lecture curriculum like an ecosystem that aims to produce entrepreneurs with strong and unyielding characters, have knowledge and skills in business management, and have social sensitivity,” he said.
It is these three characters, said Setiawan, that make Prasetiya Mulya graduates always ready to face various situations, whether they go straight into young entrepreneurs after graduation, choose to enter the workforce first, or work running a business. Currently, Setiawan explained, about 27 per cent of Prasetiya Mulya University graduates immediately took the path as entrepreneurs.
“This number is higher than the world’s business campuses, where on average only 11 per cent of their graduates become entrepreneurs immediately after graduating.”
Setiawan explained that business science education is very important for prospective entrepreneurs.
“Even though basically anyone can start their own business, and many people say that being an entrepreneur doesn’t need school, business knowledge taught on campus can be a determining factor for the success of an entrepreneur’s business,” said Setiawan. “Those who do business without academic knowledge will learn through a trial and error process. Usually, the process takes a long time, maybe 10 to 15 years until they find the right formula.”
Meanwhile, Setiawan continued, entrepreneurs who are equipped with business theory and knowledge have the ability to find ideas, find solutions to problems they face, and run their businesses in a structured manner.
“This can reduce the risk of failure and uncertainty as they run their business.” At Prasetiya Mulya, said Setiawan, students are educated and invited to go through the business process from exploring ideas to facing various business challenges, even from the early days of college.
In addition to business science, Prasetiya Mulya University also completes its curriculum with STEM or science, technology, engineering, and math.
With the collaboration of these two knowledge groups, according to Setiawan, the students at Prasetiya Mulya also get the knowledge of technology.
“So students will have a long vision, are accustomed to facing changing trends, and are ready to make various innovations and business models.
“What is no less important is that they are also equipped with social sensitivity so that in the future the business they build can become jobs for other people.”
Two Prasetiya Mulya University students who are currently in their fourth semester in the Business Undergraduate Program, Clarissa Mitzi and Siditio Oktobiliandy, acknowledge the benefits of the knowledge they get on campus as a provision to run a business.
Clarissa, who is currently developing a frozen yoghurt dessert business called Kuka, said that in the real world running a business is not easy.
“Intentions and ideas alone are not enough. Prospective entrepreneurs must have good planning before executing their ideas. The business theories we got on campus were very helpful when we made plans, started running a business, and looked for ways to grow our business,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tio, who is building a Serra hair care product business, believes that business knowledge will determine the success rate of a business being run.
“Without knowledge, doing business is like gambling, the ratio of failure and success is 50:50. But with the basic business knowledge possessed by a prospective entrepreneur, he can increase his chances of success by 20-30 per cent.”
In addition, business knowledge can also make an entrepreneur run his business sustainably.
“Because with business knowledge, entrepreneurs can make careful and precise plans, so that their business can run for the long term, not just be finished and stop in the middle of the road.”
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