Deputy Trade Minister urges students to boost Indonesia's entrepreneurship ratio
Surabaya (ANTARA) - Deputy Trade Minister Dyah Roro Esti is encouraging students to increase Indonesia’s entrepreneurship ratio through education and strengthening the entrepreneurial spirit to catch up with other countries and expand the contribution of the younger generation to the national economy.
“We still have much to strive for to ensure Indonesia’s entrepreneur ratio continues to rise,” she stated at Universitas Ciputra (UC) in Surabaya on Wednesday.
Dyah noted that Indonesia’s current entrepreneurship ratio stands at just 3.29% of the total workforce, or approximately 4.9 million entrepreneurs. This figure is still below Malaysia’s 4.74%, Singapore’s 8.76%, and the United States’ 12%.
According to her, entrepreneurship takes various forms, from franchise investors to creators of new businesses based on ideas and passion. Therefore, students are urged to use their university years as a time for self-reflection to determine their life direction and contribution to the nation.
She explained that the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) has three main programmes: securing the domestic market, expanding foreign markets, and promoting the export of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from local to global levels.
The business matching programme has connected hundreds of MSMEs with modern retailers such as Alfamart, Indomaret, IKEA, and Metro Department Store.
“We want to ensure that the government is present to help and facilitate business actors so they can develop,” she said.
The Campus Preneur programme is also being prepared to open collaborations with universities through export training, seminars, and international business coaching supported by the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in 33 countries.
“Hopefully, this collaboration can run well, because to make Indonesia more advanced, we must work together across sectors,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Rector of Universitas Ciputra (UC) Surabaya, Prof. Dr. Wirawan Endro Dwi Radianto, emphasised the importance of building an adaptive, innovative, and risk-taking entrepreneurial character among the younger generation.
He explained that UC, as an entrepreneurship-based campus, implements practical-based education, experiential learning, and business incubation.
Of the total graduates, around 63% choose the entrepreneurship path, in addition to becoming professionals and successors to family businesses.
Wirawan also welcomed the Campus Preneur programme positively, viewing it as a way to open global business networks for students.
The studium generale event themed Young Entrepreneurs: Challenges and Opportunities also featured Chairman of the Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Industry Association (HIMKI) Djoko Kurniawan and entrepreneurship academic Prof. Dr. Murpin Josua Sembiring.
According to Wirawan, government support is a key factor in boosting students’ confidence to start businesses amid global uncertainties.
“Students are still in the learning stage, so sometimes there is fear. But with the ministry’s support, I believe they will be more confident in developing,” he said.