Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia encourages entrepreneurship in millennials through Social Entrepreneurship Marketplace (SE Marketplace). This event is an annual event of Atma Jaya, which brings together innovations and marketplaces. SE Marketplace is an effort in solving social problems through entrepreneurship.
Through this program, Atma Jaya brings together institutions/ companies/ individuals looking for social entrepreneurship and partners looking forward to giving their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds. Moreover, as a marketplace, this event also lets social entrepreneurs meet each other so that various new cooperation and opportunities might happen.
Therefore, not only financially, but SE Market 2018 also helps social entrepreneurs in building network. Social engagement requires a vast network.
As an example is PsyHome, a solid activity group initiated by students of Atma Jaya Faculty of Psychology. PsyHome gives educational support and monitoring to school-age children in Jakarta through a weekly activity. This activity is for sure a meaningful one, however it lacks a network which may promote this activity to general public. For that reason, PsyHome needs not only funding and volunteers, but also support from media in order to expand network.
One condition in order to participate in SE Marketplace is the capability to propose ideas or programs which can help to solve social problems by referring to SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). For an instance, the Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) program which supports SDGs in the aspect of water for life. RWH also indirectly contributes to education and woman empowerment aspects of SDGs through Learning Center Program and Waste Bank program at Rusunawa Muara Karang as the target of RWH. The woman empowerment spirit is also shown through Aska Saving, a program in cooperation with a financial service institution.
SE Marketplace 2018 emphasized three fundamental values: Innovate, Interact and Influence (I3). Being consistent with the primary goal of SE Marketplace last year, the big theme of this year’s SE Marketplace still referred to SDGs. The theme was also in line with the core value of Atma Jaya, which is Social Care. This year’s SE Marketplace was joined by 25 participants, categorized into three: environmental, community empowerment, and healthcare. 8 companies also participated in this event as an expression of their concerns in social care and SDGs.
SE Marketplace 2018 lasted for two days, 16-17 Oktober 2018 at Campus 1 Semanggi. It consisted of exhibition and talk show series. It was also organized simultaneously with Career Fair 2018. The career fair itself has been held since 2013, twice a year, with 80 companies participating in one year. These two big events were integrated with a goal to bring companies to meet with job seekers and people with social innovations.
Social Entrepreneurship Innovations
Some instances of 25 SE Marketplace 2018 participants are as following: The first one is Flower of Hope (FoH) which was initiated by Hermawan, an alumnus of Atma Jaya Faculty of Biotechnology.
FoH is profit-based organization which recycles ornamental flowers by preserving them through certain methods and technologies so that they might last around 1 year. All the flowers are collected from hotels and markets. Besides reducing waste, this effort also could add the flower values. The selling price might go up to 10 times. Through this preservation method, flower farmers may increase their income as they are able to sell competitive products compared to imported flowers, considering the price of these preserved flowers is only a-third of imported flower price.
“Our dream is that we can develop local preserved flower to conquer local market and stop importing preserved flowers, and we can improve the economy of local communities by creating useful, competitive and environmentally-friendly products,” Hermawan said during an interview.
FoH research has been conducted for about two years and currently is waiting for the patent. The patent is being handled together with Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (40:60). FoH’s wish at the moment is an angel investor who can help funding their further studies to come up with better products.
Another innovation in SE Market 2018 is Rain Water Harvesting (RWH), an integrated water management by utilizing rain water to fulfill clean water needs efficiently and environmentally-friendly. According to Herman Yosef Sutarno, the system developer, the pilot project of RWH has been implemented at Rusunawa Muara Baru, North Jakarta. This year, the RWH concept is also integrated with sustainable waste management in vertical housing to support sustainable city concept, as one of government infrastructure focuses.
In healthcare, one of the participants is ACOPE (Atma Jaya Community Ophthalmology Program & Education), represented by dr. Cisca Kuswidyati, Sp.M. It is a program to prevent blindness in Indonesia, especially the Eastern part of Indonesia. The sight test program with RRAB (Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness) method is a method developed by an international eye health center to prevent early blindness. Other projects of ACOPE are eye disease management, therapy and cataracts check.
Innovations in community development are as following: Dodol and Sirup Kojo from Tim Peduli Mentawai; Kripik Pongs from Pongga village, a result of the community service by Faculty of Engineering in cracker-making and packaging machine support; household waste management for compost; clean water management through catfish cultivation with aquaponic system; Atma Jaya Warrior (Fodim – Student Discussion Forum), a workshop or social activity; and lastly, Charity Cancer Camp (AMSA: Asian Medical Students Association), a support program for people with cancer and their families.
Marketplace Support is needed
Besides exhibition, SE Marketplace 2018 was also filled by several talk shows, inviting practitioners or companies working in environmental issue and SE participants as speakers.
The first talk show discussed about environmental issue with the topic Social entrepreneurship in developing a better environment. The speakers were Bambang Ismawan (Trubus magazine founder and the Head of Bina Swadaya Foundation), Fazia (Waste4Change, a start-up operating in waste management), Tarno (Rain Water Harvesting), and Fredi (household waste management to organic fertilizers).
In his presentation, Faiza said, “Waste is a serious issue in Indonesia. In fact, recycling effort in Indonesia is still very low. Indonesian sea is the second dirtiest in the world and it is predicted in 2050 that there will be more waste instead of fish there. Indonesia also holds the predicate of the second dirtiest river in the world.” These facts make Waste4Change focus on four programs: consultation, campaign, waste management, and recycling.
The second talk show with the topic of community empowerment invited Vanessa Reksodipoetro (Usaha Mulia Foundaiton), Debora R. Tjandrakusuma (PT. Nestle), Frederick E. Gaughana (BTPN Syariah), Mrs. Eni from Atma Jaya Industrial Engineering Program , and Mang Ujang, a public figure in Ponggang village (community development at Ponggang) as the speakers. In this opportunity, Mang Ujang showed his appreciation to Atma Jaya, “If other universities usually only give trainings, Atma Jaya diligently and patiently guided and empowered Ponggang people.”
The last talk show in healthcare invited dr.Sandy Qlintang (Kalbe Farma), Marinna Eka Amalila (Prodia), Sherine (Genetics Indonesia), dr.Cisca Kuswidyati, Sp.M, M.Sc and dr.Edhyana, Ph.D (Atma Care for Thalassemia) as the speakers.
Elisabeth Rukmini, Ph.D, the Vice Rector of Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, said, “Throughout our long social engagement history, we try to fulfill society needs, with one of the keys is how an university can influence general public through practices, behaviors, and policy making. Through this program, we made an attempt to find stakeholders, especially since marketplace support is heavily needed so that social entrepreneurs might develop themselves better.”