Universitas Indonesia (UI) as one of the universities implementing the Independent Entrepreneurship program (WMK) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), held a Demo Day for the Independent Entrepreneurship Program entitled Wira-Cipta Universitas Indonesia (Wira-Cipta UI) on Thursday (30/11). This event was the culmination of a whole series of activities that have taken place over the last three months. Wira-Cipta UI 2023 was attended by 231 students from 45 Indonesian universities, who were supervised by 23 start-ups and 23 Field Assistant Lecturers.
The WMK program is one of the programs implementing the Independent Learning-Independent Campus (MBKM) policy by the Ministry of Education and Culture, which aims to enable students to obtain learning related to entrepreneurship outside their study program. In this way, students can become graduates who are ready for work and able to compete after college. Since its initial launch in 2022, UI, together with 17 other universities, has been actively organizing the WMK program. 2023 marks the second batch of Wira-Cipta UI.
In her welcoming speech, the Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, drg. Nurtami, Ph.D., Sp, OF(K). said, “The Independent Entrepreneurship Program is one of MBKM’s flagship programs which is quite popular because it offers opportunities for developing student entrepreneurship with a holistic approach involving academics, practitioners and entrepreneurs. Through this program, students not only get a maximum conversion of 20 credits, but also gain experience and various new skills that will strengthen entrepreneurship so they can immediately start various new business fields.”
Since the WMK UI 2023 program was officially implemented in early August, this program has provided various series of pre-immersion and immersion activities, such as E-Camp Series Resource Lectures, Mentoring On Boarding sessions with industry mentor practitioners, and Company Visits. The Demo Day activity, as the last in the series, is an opportunity for WMK program participants to apply the knowledge they have gained in the form of product presentations or business prototypes to potential investors and consumers.
Head of the Independent Entrepreneurship Program at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Gamaliel Alexander Emil Waney, ST., MLA, said, “Expo Demo Day is here to train students to meet face to face with the market. Students experience how to offer products directly, feel the joy of having their products purchased and the resistance from buyers. These are all normal things in business. Students must continue to be enthusiastic and consistent in carrying out their business.” Gamaliel also appreciated UI, which in its second year of implementation consistently provided the best learning to WMK participants.
Demo Day activities were held at Ra Suites Simatupang, Jakarta for three days until December 2nd 2023. Before carrying out the pitch on the second day, the participants received material briefing by business practitioners. One of them wass a talk entitled “Branding Strategy for New Businesses” which examined strategies for building business brands for start-up businesses. Dedy Purwanto, Head of Marketing at Quipper, an online learning platform, said that a brand is the heart and soul of a business entity.
According to him, to build an influential and sustainable business, branding is needed to touch the feelings of potential consumers. Dedy conveyed the three aspects needed to build good branding, namely Pathos, Ethos and Logos. Pathos tries to build emotional and sympathetic aspects from consumers, Ethos is a company value that consumers need to internalize, and Logos is a tactic for communicating messages that are relevant to target consumers based on logic.
In a similar vein, Wardah Brand Manager, Ayu Tarantika Indreswati also agreed that brand is the biggest intangible asset of a company. “Brand is the most important thing that allows consumers to identify our business based on the perception or image we want to build. Through branding, we can build positive relationships with consumers and differentiate ourselves from other businesses. Our products can be imitated, but when we have strong branding, the product becomes our own,” said Ayu.
Furthermore, the participants also received material related to legal aspects for start-up businesses, as well as strategies for attracting investors through good business pitching techniques. Andreas Senjaya, CoFounder of the start-up incubator FounderPlus said that presentations to investors are necessary to obtain capital. However, presentations to investors require careful preparation. To attract investors, Andreas emphasized that business actors need to prioritize information related to business traction or projected potential growth of the business.
Also present at the 2023 WMK UI Demo Day event was the Chief Executive of the 2023 WMK UI Program, Dr. Nurul Safitri, MA; Director of Learning and Student Affairs, Ministry of Education and Culture, Prof. Dr. Ir. Sri Suning Kusumawardani, ST, MT; Daily Executive Director of Innovation and Science Techno Park UI, Prasandhya Astagiri Yusuf, S.Si., MT., Ph.D; Head of the Center of Independent Learning UI, F. Astha Ekadiyanto, S.T., M.Sc; WMK UI Executive Team, Abdul Jabbar, and Smart Legal Founder, Bimo Prasetio
Author: Dyra Daniera
