Barsa Company: Not just a game, it's business for real

Barsa Company: Not just a game, it's business for real

The glaring sun over the skies of Sangatta, East Kutai
regency, Kalimantan, was partly covered by clouds on that
particular day in February. The blistering heat enveloped the
entire city including one of the classrooms of the Sangatta
senior high school (SMU Negeri 1 Sangatta).

However, the extremely high temperature did not seem to
disturb the 20 students -- mostly first and second graders -- who
were having a discussion. The topic seemed to take the students'
minds off the oppressive weather: How to make a trade mission to
Belfast, Northern Ireland, a success?

What? A trade mission? That's right. They were intensely
discussing the plan in detail, as they were none other than the
senior management of Barsa Company, established in September 2002
and run by some 25 students. Barsa -- an acronym derived from the
name of the school -- was set up subsequent to the signing of a
collaboration agreement between PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), the
Prestasi Junior Indonesia (PJI), a member of Junior Achievement
International and Sangatta senior high school (SMU Negeri I).

Through this agreement, KPC is providing its full support for
the 25 students in learning the theories and gaining hands-on
experience of entrepreneurship as envisaged by the Junior
Achievement Global Learning of Business Enterprise (GLOBE)
program run under the auspices of PJI. KPC's assistance also
includes sending two students accompanied by a teacher to a
foreign country to further their knowledge on the relevant
subjects and to conduct real business, enter into transactions,
etc., with another similar company participating in the Junior
Achievement International program. This year, Barsa Company has
started doing "business" with the U-Wood Company set up by the
students of the Belfast Model School for Girls in Northern
Ireland.

The "high level" talks in the classroom -- attended by the
students' enthusiastic teacher, Tatiyana Ester Panjaitan, as well
as by Muljadi Lukito Madilao from PJI -- finally came to the
conclusion that the "trade mission" to Belfast must be made a
success with continuous follow-up action being taken. From among
the students, Amiruddin Ash Shiddiq and Dini Suryani --
accompanied by their teacher -- were appointed to represent the
Barsa company in Belfast. The products to be promoted were some
of East Kalimantan's specialities, such as wooden and rattan
handicrafts, batik and local beads from suppliers working in
partnership with the company.

Though intended as a model for study purposes, the students'
company is in fact structured like a business organization in its
true sense. It has a real board of directors: Amiruddin Ash
Shiddiq is the president, Ramsida Sri Mariyani the vice president
for human resources, Ami Utami the VP finance, Dini Suryani VP
marketing, Armelda Rosa VP production and Rahadian VP information
technology. The company's shares -- 200 of them at Rp 1,500 per
share and 50 at Rp 16,750 each -- were offered to the "public" --
meaning the school's students -- and were all sold out.

Just like any other modern company, Barsa Company has a proper
logo, bookkeeping system, management policies, bank account, e-
mail address and so forth so as to facilitate it in conducting
business with its clients and suppliers.

Samples of the company's merchandise were carefully selected
by Armelda Rosa, the VP production, and photographs of the
samples are given to VP IT to be sent to the prospective buyer:
the Belfast Model School for Girls. For shipment, a major
international courier company -- Federal Express -- lent a hand
by sending the goods at discounted rates.

Barsa Company's first transaction with U-Wood in Belfast was
quite large: 20 bags and 10 wallets made from local beads; 10
wallets made from skin wood (bark), 10 cups, 10 tissue boxes and
10 fruit dishes made from wood, with a total value of about
US$500. The profit made was estimated at Rp 1.7 million.

In return, U-Wood offered them chocolate products, which the
company declined for the time being as such products were not in
great demand in Sangatta while the prices offered were too high
for local consumers.

Doing business seriously, Barsa Company is thriving, as proven
by another simple move: supplying the school's need for snacks,
which has proved a tremendous success with 200 packages being
sold within the first 15 minutes of the venture's launch. Based
on this success, the company is spreading its wings in the snack
business by teaming up with the Civil Servants' Wives
Organization (Dharma Wanita) to supply the East Kutai
administration's offices with snacks.

Expanding further, in March Barsa will supply 500 packs of
soybean milk to the East Kutai administration offices every
Friday and will become one of Star Air's sales agents for the
Balikpapan-Jakarta route. Another sales plan in the works is
supplying salak (zalacca palm fruit) taffy bearing the Barsa
brand to the Matahari and Hero supermarket chains in Samarinda,
Kalimantan.

Though the company is proud of its great success so far and
the numerous bright prospects in the near future, its birth was
not easy. Regarding the early challenges, Barsa's president Amir
Ash Shiddiq recalled how he and his colleagues were looked down
upon and jeered at by their fellow students when they started the
snack venture. "But our teacher, Ibu Tatiyana, was always there,
encouraging us and boosting our spirits all the way. And now,
with this coming trip to Belfast ... a kind of a "trade mission",
if you like, we are all gaining very valuable experience ... it
will also enhance our spirit of entrepreneurship," said the
second grader.

To Tatiyana, who constantly coaches the management of Barsa,
the achievement of the students is the result of harmonious
synergies. "The progress and success achieved have been mostly
based on their courage to make a start. Acquiring customers and
suppliers for Barsa, whom we treat and regard as partners, is
also based on our open communications with them so that they
understand us better. Hence their doors open much more quickly to
us," she said.

The PJI's project is further facilitated by the full support
given by the students' parents as reflected in what Lintarti
Suranta, Dini Suryani's mother, had to say: "Although we did not
fully understand the PJI's activities, we gave our full support
to our daughter, Dini, from the very beginning ... and I think,
as parents, we have been right in supporting her in these
positive activities."

Above all for the PJI, the success of its project, as proven
by the achievements of Barsa Company, has greatly depended on
collaboration between a number of parties. "The PJI's program in
the eastern part of Indonesia is a real breakthrough that has
been made possible by the support of various companies, such as
Rio Tinto, KPC and PT Freeport Indonesia. Everyone involved has
been deeply impressed by the enthusiasm of the students in
Sangatta, East Kalimantan. This proves that in all parts of
Indonesia students have the same attitudes once they are given
the opportunity to prepare themselves for business and
entrepreneurship," said Marzuki Darusman, Chairman of the PJI
project.

Amir Ash Shiddiq, the son of a lowly farmer from Samboja
village, East Kalimantan, and his friends at Barsa Company truly
bear out his words.