On Friday (28/6), the Faculty of Engineering at Universitas Indonesia (FTUI), through the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Unit, continued its entrepreneurship program with the On-Boarding Technopreneurship Camp event. This activity marks the beginning of a series of entrepreneurship training activities for its participants. The event was held in the Smart Meeting Room at the FTUI Dean’s Building.
Starting the event, the Head of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Unit, Dr. Muhamad Sahlan, S.Si., M.Eng., delivered his welcome speech, “I am grateful that this Technopreneurship Camp is running according to our plan. Hopefully, in the next 3 months, we can carry out this activity smoothly and produce young entrepreneurs from the Faculty of Engineering and other faculties.”
As Dr. Sahlan mentioned, this technopreneur-ship program has been running for 3 years. Each year, the number of participants has increased. In the first year, it was attended by 8 groups, in the second year it increased to 10 groups, and in the third year, there was a drastic increase with 24 groups participating.
Next, the Program Manager of the Wadhwani Foundation, Dita Mayasari, provided an online presentation about the Wadhwani Foundation. Dita explained that the Wadhwani Foundation is a non-profit organization from the USA, founded by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, an Indian-American. The Wadhwani Foundation’s mission is to accelerate job growth in developing countries and enable millions of people to earn sufficient wages to support their families and live with dignity. Today, the Wadhwani Foundation has more than 7,000 ventures, trained over 1,200 lecturers, collaborated with more than 800 institutes, has over 100 incubators, and is present in 15 countries across 3 continents. The Wadhwani Foundation has been present in Indonesia since 2015.
Following this, the main activity was led by Ade Idris from the Wadhwani Foundation. Ade began his presentation by introducing himself to the participants and sharing the ideas developed by the participants. He then delivered a session on Entrepreneurial Thinking titled NextGen Ignite 3.3. In his material, Ade explained how to think like an entrepreneur. For instance, he discussed how participants could find their entrepreneurial style by identifying problems worth solving. Problem-solving was carried out using the Design Thinking principle, previously discussed in the Technopreneur Spark event, followed by brainstorming, and developing business models.
In the final session, Ade guided the participants to create accounts for the National Entrepreneurship Network-Indonesia, abbreviated as NEN. NEN, also known as the National Entrepreneurship Network, is a platform launched by the Wadhwani Foundation to provide practical courses on entrepreneurship for master’s students, graduates, and professionals.
On another occasion, the Dean of FTUI, Prof. Dr. Ir. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU, expressed his opinion, “This technopreneurship program has achieved remarkable success. I hope that the 24 participating groups can excel and participate in the global jury organized by the Wadhwani Foundation.” He also emphasized that entrepreneurship is one of the Dean’s main strategies, as it is important for Indonesia’s future. He believes that by enhancing technopreneurship skills, students will not only be ready to face global challenges but also contribute to creating jobs and advancing Indonesia’s economy.
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Public Communication Office
Faculty of Engineering Universitas Indonesia
