Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Republic of Indonesia, Teten Masduki, expressed the importance of cooperation between the Ministry of Cooperatives and Universities in order to prepare young entrepreneurs to increase economic growth in Indonesia. To support this, Universitas Indonesia (UI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Republic of Indonesia agreed to work together to make this happen. The signing of the memorandum of understanding on Education, Research, and Community Service took place on Wednesday (19/01) at the Floating Hall, UI Depok Campus.
The scope included in the Memorandum of Understanding includes education and training, mentoring, apprenticeship and development in the fields of cooperatives, micro-enterprises, small businesses, medium enterprises, and entrepreneurship; Research, innovation and downstreaming researchs as well as exchange and processing of data and / or information; Community service and implementation of the Merdeka Belajar – Kampus Merdeka program and Thematic Real Work Lectures; Provision of curriculum in the fields of cooperatives, micro-enterprises, small businesses, medium enterprises, and entrepreneurship; and other areas of cooperation agreed by the relevant parties.
At the same event, a memorandum of understanding was signed with four other state universities in Indonesia, namely the University of North Sumatra (USU), Andalas University (UNAND), Sam Ratulangi University, and Lambung Mangkurat University. In addition to the signing ceremony, a sharing session was held with moderator Director of the Directorate of Community Service and Empowerment UI Agung Waluyo, S.Kp., M.Sc., Ph.D., with resource persons Deputy for Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Siti Azizah and Director of Innovation and Science Techno Park UI Ahmad Gamal, with the theme “Business Incubation to Encourage the Birth of National Innovative SMEs”.
The UI Rector hopes that this cooperation can provide inclusive benefits for both the UI academic community and the Indonesian people. “By holding the signing of this MoU, Universitas Indonesia can further assist in the development of start-ups and MSMEs that innovate, so that they can compete with MSME products that are already on the market. We hope that Universitas Indonesia and the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises can work together in developing MSMEs in Indonesia, so that Indonesian MSMEs can compete with foreign products that already have a name in the international arena,” said Prof. Ari.
Meanwhile, Teten Masduki said that this cooperation is needed by highly educated young entrepreneurs in the economic and global competition. The percentage of entrepreneurship in Indonesia currently stands at 3.47%. By 2045, Indonesia has the potential to become a developed country with an average percentage of entrepreneurship reaching 10-14%.
Therefore, he said, it is necessary to create young entrepreneurs based on higher education to continue the great entrepreneurs. “We will change the patterns of professional mentoring with incubation, and we want to work with Higher Education partners with the aim of producing young entrepreneurs as mentioned earlier,” he said.
Writer: Vinny Shoffa | Editor: Maudisha AR
