Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

Alumni of FEB UGM never stops holding a useful talkshow and soft skill training for students. Likewise the event which was held last Saturday (11/11), KAFEGAMA 1988 held an Entrepreneurship Talk Show themed "Be Your Own Boss: How to Succeed in Business." Talk show, which was held at Kertanegara Room, was opened by speech from Prof. Mahfud Sholihin, Ph.D. as Vice Dean in Academics. This talk show was filled by entrepreneurs from KAFEGAMA 1988. They are Ami Ratih, owner of Djene Batik; Franky Suhendra, founder/CEO of Dana Mandiri Group; Tandori, owner of Maya Graha Kencana; serta Metta Dharmasaputra, co-founder/CEO of Katadata.co.id; and moderated by Reslian Pardede, who is Head of Portfolio Prisma.

Talk show was begun with explanation of general entrepreneurship from Reslian. Reslian explained that in developed countries, the increase of entrepreneurship level in a nation indicates the increase of country’s economy level. In Indonesia itself, there are more business in start-up industry which are very close to entrepreneurship world. Reslian brought the event with the explanation from speakers about how to start business, factors which define to start business, how to choose business type, and skills needed to become an entrepreneur.

Franky said that because of his limit, Franky has a desire to become an entrepreneur. But, he chose to work in a company beforehand. In the middle of his carrier journey, he chose to stop being a worker, and then pursued his dream to become an entrepreneur. Franky realizes that an entrepreneur needs to have the skill to manage a lot of people first. Other than that, an entrepreneur should have an interest in finance, an ability to manage people, and do that with a pleasure. “You see opportunity, you can make it, that’s a goal. Entrepreneurship is a long journey.” said Franky.

Ami has an opinion that to increase people’s motivation in business, a entrepreneur needs a passion. Ami herself was inspired to have a business from her mother. “As a businessman/businesswoman, we have to spend time to look for ideas. Those ideas don’t need to be 100% original. We may develop existing ideas, so that they will be more unique.” said Ami.

Tandori said that, in doing something, not only business, if done without passion, it will be plain. Thus, for Tandori, passion is very important for entrepreneurs. Tandori said, “The key is ‘share’! Never be afraid to share”. Related to what Tandori said, Metta has an opinion, “The era of competition is over. It is time for collaboration era”. Metta started his carrier by becoming a journalist in several media that in turn made him to enter the journalism world then established Katadata.co.id. For Metta, to begin something, there is no point where we are ready. Thus, in order to increase level of confidence, each person needs to have a principle “Think big, start small, quick win”. Metta suggested the entrepreneurs-soon-to-be to have a wide range of networking, because it is very important in entrepreneurship world.

Source: Acha/FEB