ITB declares itself as Entrepreneurial University and thus is expected to produce good entrepreneurs. Therefore, Dr Atik Aprianingsih as a speaker and also a lecturer from School of Business and Management (SBM) ITB gave many examples of successful female technopreneurs to motivate attending participants in entrepreneurship.

Technology utilization has proven to effect entrepreneurs, both in the usage and creation of technology. There are five priorities in Indonesia, they are water, energy, health, agriculture, and biodiversity. Dr Atik focuses on agriculture, because despite the fact that Indonesia is an agrarian country, domestic food needs still require import, and the export is not maximized.

“We in SBM do research on agriculture, especially Indonesian horticulture that has an even better quality than that of foreign country such as West Java Preanger Coffee, Cianjur’s Pandan Wangi Rice, Garut’s Vetiver, and Cirebon’s Gedong Gincu Mango. Moreover, we also cooperate with several institutes to start Ecobiz (an online platform designed to connect various business to build together a local business ecosystem in various regions in Indonesia),” said Dr. Atik.

Besides uncertainty, lengthy hard work, financial and lifestyle sacrifice, there are other challenges that face women that want to try entrepreneurship, one of them is the reluctance of investors to invest to women. But, this will not happen if women can show good performance, shown in good track record.

However, in her opinion, Dr. Atik said that not everyone can be an entrepreneur because entrepreneur is a spirit and therefore requires two characters, never give up and discipline.