{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1799811,
        "msgid": "trade-minister-suddenly-urges-students-to-become-activists-name-drops-ronaldo-1781250904",
        "date": "2026-06-12 14:10:00",
        "title": "Trade Minister Suddenly Urges Students to Become Activists, Name-Drops Ronaldo",
        "author": "",
        "source": "CNBC",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Trade",
        "summary": "Trade Minister Budi Santoso has called on Indonesian university students to become 'export activists' to help connect MSME products with global markets. Speaking at an event in Bogor, he cited footballer Ronaldo's philosophy on dreams and revealed that the ministry's business matching programmes facilitated over US$193 million in transactions by April 2026. The government is offering free design clinics, training, and dedicated booths at the upcoming Trade Expo Indonesia to support young entrepreneurs.",
        "content": "<p>Bogor, CNBC Indonesia - Minister of Trade Budi Santoso has urged\nuniversity students to take a greater role in boosting national exports.\nHe even said students need to become \u2018activists\u2019 who actively market and\nconnect micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) products to the\nglobal market. \u201cWe want our children to become activists. All of them\nmust become activists. But export activists. So we are looking for\npositive things,\u201d Budi said in his speech at the Campuspreneur event at\nIPB University, Bogor, on Friday (12\/6\/2026). According to him, young\npeople must have clear aspirations from an early age to be able to\ndetermine their future direction. \u201cIf at this age you still don\u2019t know\nwhat your goal is, you tend not to know what you want to be in the\nfuture. So now you must have aspirations, you must have dreams. That\nfootball player Ronaldo said, \u2018The dreams that make us progress are not\nthe dreams we get while sleeping, but the dreams that make us unable to\nsleep.\u2019 That\u2019s according to Ronaldo,\u201d he said. He then linked this\nspirit to the world of exports, which the government is currently\npushing. \u201cSo if you can\u2019t sleep because you\u2019re dreaming of becoming an\nexporter, that\u2019s good. How to become an exporter until you can\u2019t sleep,\nthat\u2019s good. Not because of other dreams. That\u2019s what we must do,\u201d he\nsaid. According to Budi, the Ministry of Trade has prepared various\nfacilities to help students and young entrepreneurs develop their\nproducts, ranging from design consultations to promotion and market\naccess. \u201cSo how can your products enter the domestic market as well. We\nprepare the market, we have a design clinic, we also prepare the design.\nEverything is free, so if you want to consult on design, everything is\nfree. That\u2019s what we do,\u201d he said. Budi also invited students to take\nadvantage of the Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) which will be held on 14-18\nOctober 2026. In that exhibition, the Ministry of Trade plans to provide\na special space for campus-based entrepreneurs. \u201cDon\u2019t forget on 14 to\n18 October we have the Trade Expo. We will bring in buyers\u2026 we will\ncreate a special booth for campuspreneur if the budget is available. But\nit is available, we will find it, it\u2019s there,\u201d he said. Budi cited the\nsuccess of a product promotion programme previously facilitated by the\nMinistry of Trade through the \u2018Pilihan Busan\u2019 booth. Out of around 15\ncompanies that participated in the programme, most managed to secure\ntransactions. \u201cAt the last TEI there was a Pilihan Busan booth, out of\nabout 15 companies, 10 of them got transactions. Transactions included a\nradio, also fostered by IPB. It got a transaction for 2,000 units of\nradios,\u201d Budi revealed. \u201cSo much so that he couldn\u2019t produce them\nhimself, eventually he gathered MSMEs,\u201d he continued. Furthermore, he\ndisclosed that the Ministry of Trade is currently collaborating with 19\nuniversities to provide export training and to match students with\npotential buyers from abroad. \u201cWe have collaborated with 19 campuses. So\nwe provide training and then after that business matching. I think today\nthere is also business matching with Singapore, our representative in\nSingapore. These are the facilities we provide, export training for our\nuniversity students,\u201d he said. According to Budi, students do not need\nto worry if they do not have their own factory or product. They can\nstill engage in export activities by becoming aggregators who connect\nMSME products with international markets. \u201cThen not only training but\nhow to sell those goods. So don\u2019t worry, \u2018Oh sir, I don\u2019t have a\nproduct, I don\u2019t have a factory.\u2019 You don\u2019t have to. Exporters or these\nstudents can become aggregators,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, an aggregator is how\nyou can sell products from MSMEs. Just collect MSME products, foster\nthem, then standardise them, then we are able to sell them. So it\u2019s the\nmarketing. In rough terms, it\u2019s a broker, that\u2019s fine. But that\u2019s\nexactly what we are looking for, aggregators. We gathered 300\naggregators in Jakarta,\u201d he explained. Budi assessed that these\naggregators are the spearhead in efforts to increase Indonesia\u2019s\nexports. \u201cBecause they are our spearhead. You are our spearhead to\ncontinue increasing our exports,\u201d he said. On that occasion, Budi also\nencouraged students not to be solely oriented towards seeking jobs after\ngraduation. He hopes that university graduates will be able to create\njobs through entrepreneurship. \u201cWe want our children, these students,\nwhen they graduate to become entrepreneurs. Don\u2019t be busy looking for\nwork after graduating, but be able to create jobs for our environment\nand for yourselves,\u201d Budi said. Budi revealed that the business matching\nprogramme run by the Ministry of Trade has generated significant export\ntransactions. In this scheme, fostered MSMEs present to Indonesia\u2019s\ntrade representatives abroad before being directly matched with\npotential buyers. \u201cFostered MSMEs present to our representatives abroad,\nto the ITPC attach\u00e9s. After that, the ITPC attach\u00e9s find buyers. Once\nbuyers are found, the participants present again directly to the buyers,\nall online,\u201d he explained. As a result, throughout 2025, export\ntransactions from this programme reached US$134.8 million, or more than\nRp2 trillion. Interestingly, around 70% of the business actors involved\nhad never previously exported. \u201cAnd last year (2025) the transactions\nreached US$134.8 million, or more than Rp2 trillion. These were MSMEs,\n70% of whom had never exported. This year, from January to April, it\u2019s\nalready US$193.88 million. So it has already exceeded last year\u2019s\nfull-year figure. And this is only up to April,\u201d he said.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/trade-minister-suddenly-urges-students-to-become-activists-name-drops-ronaldo-1781250904",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}