Also present at the event the Mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil, Governor of West Java, Ahmad Heryawan and several Ministers in Working Cabinet such as Higher Education Minister, Communication Minister, Cabinet Secretary, and Head of Creative Economy Agency. EW! Which took place at Sasana Budaya Ganesa ITB was the 8th and also the last in 2017, after previous occasions in cities such as Jogja, Solo, Surabaya, and Denpasar.

The event began with a remark by Rector of ITB, Prof. Kadarsah Suryadi. “Innovators are common people, but they create great works”, said Kadarsah. The next remark was delivered by head of Indonesia’s Presidential Staff, Teten Masduki. He said that the event was held in ITB because ITB is the home to many entrepreneurs, such as Achmad Zaky with Bukalapak, Andi Taufan with Amartha, Reynazran Royono with Snapcart and many more. In his opinion, Entrepreneur Wanted! was held to spread the spirit of entrepreneurship and develop tough entrepreneurs.

Dare to Dream and Strive

CEO and Co-Founder of Amartha, Andi Taufan Garuda Putra initially had no intention to be an entrepreneur. But, when he went to Dumai, Riau to do his office duty, he found great economic disparity between owners of oil palm plantation and owners of small businesses. Many owners of small businesses had problems in funding and therefore had difficulties in developing their businesses. Therefore, Andi pioneered a funding platform for small and medium enterprises (SME). This platform was then evolved into Amartha, a network that connect investors and business owners. Currently Amartha manages about 200 billion rupiahs and connects 3000 SME owners.

CEO and Co-Founder of Tokopedia, William Tanuwijaya said that he had problem with funding. For two years William tried to look for partners to build Tokopedia. The reason was because no businessmen in Indonesia at that time that ever succeed in Information Technology business. Moreover, no one believe there would be Indonesian businessman that can compete with massive global marketplace such as Amazon and eBay. But William keep believing in what he calls “bambu runcing” spirit. This spirit could be interpreted as the courage to believe in oneself, work diligently and never lose hope. With this spirit, Tokopedia that William initiated has connected 2.6 million of business owners with 40 million of potential buyers.

A Message from the President

The President of Indonesia, Ir. H. Joko Widodo was also a businessman, who engaged in furniture business whose products had been exported to various countries. In his opinion, the progress of a country could be identified from the percentage of entrepreneurs to total population. Currently Indonesia only has 3.3% entrepreneurs, while Singapore has 7%, Malaysia has 3% and Thailand has 4.5%. There needs to be more young entrepreneurs to develop the country. He also encouraged students to change their paradigm that they only want to be employees after graduating. Being entrepreneur is a choice that provide vast and promising opportunities.

Ir. H. Joko Widodo then invited 5 participants who already have a business to come on stage. Akbar, a student of SMB ITB, said that the business he does is a collaboration with two Cibaduyut sandal artists. In his opinion, Cibaduyut sandal artists make high quality product, but they lose in model variations and trademark. So, Akbar gave them some famous branded sandal as examples, and it turned out that they can make similar products with good quality. Ir. H. Joko Widodo agreed with Akbar that there are many good product makers in Indonesia, but were left unnoticed just because their less-famous trademark.

Documentation: Gilang Audi Pahlevi / Kantor Berita ITB