Currently, the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia still has not met the ideal number to dominate the single market era of the Asean Economic Community (AEC). Stands at 1.56% of the total population of Indonesia, the country still needs 5.8 million new entrepreneurs to catch up with other countries. Therefore, in the presence of three thousand August 2016 period prospective alumni of Diploma and Undergraduate program, Dr. Tirta Mandira Hudhi, owner of ‘Shoes and Care’ and Agus RS. Soeparto, personal photographer of Presidency of the Republic of Indonesia sought to rekindle UGM Alumni entrepreneurship spirit on Tuesday (23/8) at Graha Sabha Pramana.
“Better to live a difficult life and work hard at a young age, rather than suffering in old age,” said Tirta who is still active as a doctor at the UGM Academic Hospital. Starting from the shoe wash service which he did in his boarding house, now ‘Shoes and Care’ already has 21 branches in 11 cities in Indonesia in the span of three years.
However, his fight was not easy. Various business attempts had been done, but not all of them gained immediate success. He had to close and re-start his business from scratch over and over again. “I was once went bankrupt and only had 700 thousand rupiah for two months. I survived those days by eating stale bread and dried rice,” he said.
Being an entrepreneur does not mean to stop learning. Whatever the profession, one must continue to develop himself and to integrate a variety of multi-disciplinary science in his work. “Although I am an Anthropology graduate, I also studied photography, journalism, and more. There is no science that can stand alone,” said Agus soeparto who becomes personal photographer of President Joko Widodo for two years now.
“Whatever we do, we must consider if it is harmful to others or not, if it is useful or not,” said Agus when talking about job risks. It is also agreed by Tirta who explained that a profession will have more blessing if it is useful for many people. “Half of my employees are street children, whom I recruit so they can have a better life,” said the doctor who is still active in Community Health Center at Turi, Sleman. (Nirmala)