ITB CoRE is a 14-week training program for students to develop their entrepreneurship skills. Equivalent to 20 credits, the program is registered in the Wirausaha Merdeka program initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology and the Education Fund Management Agency. The program aims to reduce unemployment and provide vulnerable students with additional skill sets.

As one of the universities that organize the Wirausaha Merdeka program, ITB redefines the term vulnerable students as the following: (1) Final-year students who have a GPA of > 3.00 and experience difficulty graduating due to economic factors and academic delays, and (2) students with an average GPA and study at universities with the accreditation of being less than B. The ITB CoRE program is hoped to give participants the skills and creativity in the field of entrepreneurship so that they can create businesses and new jobs to strengthen Indonesia’s economy.

The closing ceremony began with the Head of LPIK ITB, Ir. R. Sugeng Joko Sarwono, M.T., Ph.D., and continued with a speech by the Chief Executive of ITB CoRE, Dr. Irwan Gumilar, S.T., M.Si. Dr. Irwan reported that ITB trained around 297 students from 99 universities throughout Indonesia, which are affiliated with the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Through this opportunity, Mr. Dana Sulistyo Kusomo, S.T., M.T., Ph.D. (Operational Coordinator of Wirausaha Merdeka) explained the low acceptance level of graduated students in current times and the government's efforts to improve it via the development of independent business. He stated that through the program, students could develop practical entrepreneurial programs in accordance with the competencies they want to improve. Moreover, the program does not interfere with academic activities because this program is recognized to be equal to 20 academic credits.

One of the activities planned in the program is the Entrepreneur Talk “Should I Stay or Should I Go?" with panellists from ITB LPIK ITB startup alumni: Ronaldiaz Hertanto (Chief of Innovation Officer at MYCL, Mycotech Lab) and Pebriani Artha (Product Marketing Lead at Bibit.id). This sharing session is hoped to convince participants to continue the things they have started. Attended by more than 300 participants, visitors joined by either online or offline means, ranging from students, field supervisors, mentors, coaches, to lecturers from other universities.

Guiding Dozens of Startups

For approximately four months, 47 teams (297 students in total) in the program were formed and managed by one mentor, coach, and field supervisors. Team determination was done from the 1-week student quarantine via intensive hackathons and personality categorization consisting of Hackers, Hipsters, and Hustlers.

ITB CoRE facilitates students in seeking prototypes and market validation. As support, ITB LPIK reopens its co-working access, focusing on brainstorming facilities and independent entrepreneurial activities. The long distances and diverse backgrounds do not limit the students’ enthusiasm to complete the program. The finalized 47 business ideas comprise 20 Web-based, 19 application-based, and 8 product-based businesses.

Appreciation to Teams

During the program, students are shown to have increased competencies, and some businesses offer promising prospects to continue. After strict curation, 10 teams are deemed the best and are given the opportunity to present their products at the closing ceremony. The 10 best startups are UFARM, Tereshion, Seanee, Selventure, Hipets, Genspreneur, Dandonsskin, Adminguru.id, Edunoe.id, and Easy Waste.

Aside from providing opportunities to promote their business, appreciation was also upon judges' assessments in 1 individual category and 3 business categories. The awards for Best Achievement, Best Team, Best Pitch, and Best Idea were obtained by Ertansyah Rizal from Institut Teknologi Garut, Seanee, Dandosskin, and Genspreneur, respectively. Each winner received souvenirs and earned the chance for their business to be incubated at ITB LPIK.

Reporter: Adi Permana
Translator: Ruth Nathania (Environmental Engineering, 2019)