Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

The existence of gotong royong(mutual cooperation) is locally rooted as the nation's intellectual property. Gotong royong has become a hallmark of the nation and a potential that is sustainable, valuable, and independence. The Tetrapreneur Gotong Royong (G2R) Global Program is an innovation in solidarity with the gotong royong and village entrepreneurship movement which aims to bring Indonesian local wisdom to the world stage. The target of G2R is rural areas, which incidentally is one of area that has an integrated competitive advantage through the government, academics, and village institutions within and the wider community.

The establishment of G2R Tetrapreneur was initiated by Rika Fatimah PL, ST, M.Sc., Ph.D, a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada(FEB UGM) through a long discussion with a team from the Regional Development Planning Agency, Special Region of Yogyakarta (BAPPEDA DIY) , which was then seriously promoted by the DIY Regional Government.

"So when I looked at it, gotong royong is actually local wisdom, it is even the intelligence of our ancestors," said Rika, the G2R conceiver.

Through her G2RT program, Mrs. Rika wants to raise one of the greatest assets of the Indonesian nation. He believes that actually gotong royong can also be promoted in the economic field. In addition, seeing the spirit of the Saemaul Undong empowerment model that is typical of South Korea which is already global, Mrs. Rika proposed to add global energy in front of Gotong Royong to become Global Gotong Royong.

The lecturer who earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia gave an example that the success of the South Korean state to get out of a poor country in 1970 to become one of the superpowers nation is a testament to extraordinary achievements. Ibu Rika believes that this success has also been carried out with the spirit of gotong royong.

"So, from here we can learn from fellow Asian groups that gotong royong is not only about cultural or social issues, because in fact gotong royong is an asset.", she said.

Apart from mutual cooperation, another superior potential of the Indonesian nation is entrepreneurship. One of the strengthening of this entrepreneurial potential can be applied G2R through the Tetrapreneur Model, which is an entrepreneurial village innovation movement based on four entrepreneurial pillars, namely the business supply chain from upstream to downstream (Tetra 1); availability and alertness in responding to the market as a means of exchanging product values ​​(Tetra 2); product quality through quality human resources, a coordinated system to self-development (Tetra 3); and the brand value of the product (Tetra 4). The integration of the existing gotong royong values ​​with the Tetrapreneur model is expected to elevate the independence and authority of village products to become world icons, and can be a synergy for villages to be able to compete, cooperate and adapt to move forward to the future global order.

Rika said that in 2018, G2R Tetrapreneur had been implemented in Wukirsari Village and Girirejo Village as pilot villages. G2R Tetrapreneur has successfully held Tetra 1 from the target villages with the output that is the superior product from each village. Furthermore, in 2019, the two target villages will enter the Tetra 2 stage, namely the creation of a non-competitive market. Only then in 2019, the development of G2R Tetrapreneur, which is also carried out by the DIY Department of Cooperatives and UKM, emphasizes culture as the root of entrepreneurship.

Until now in 2021, there are 21 villages under the G2R Tetrapreneur program through the DIY Privileges Fund (Danais DIY). If in general situation, Danais DIY is used in cultural aspects and heritage preservation, then G2R Tetrapreneur is a cultural innovation in the economic aspect, namely the cooperative economy. In addition, there are approximately 10 other villages that are members of the G2R Tetrapreneur Mandiri program in other parts of Indonesia. Examples of G2R Tetrapreneur-assisted village products include Manisan Processed Ppepaya typical of Donoharjo Village, Processed Okra typical of Sabdodadi Village, Packaged Fried Meatballs from Bejiharjo Village, Dodol Salak typical of Bangunkerto Village, and many others. The vision of the G2R Tetrapreneur Program which is to encourage the creation of Indonesia's iconic global products is also realized, because this year, G2R Tetrapreneur has again scored a milestone in its development, namely becoming the initiator of Indonesia's iconic global products by sending Top Product Tests for Assisted Villages to Egypt and Turkey. Hope the development of G2R Tetrapreneur will be more advanced!

Reportage: Sony Budiarso/Kirana Lalita Pristy