Trade Minister Suddenly Urges Students to Become Activists, Name-Drops Ronaldo

Bogor, CNBC Indonesia - Minister of Trade Budi Santoso has urged university students to take a greater role in boosting national exports. He even said students need to become ‘activists’ who actively market and connect micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) products to the global market. “We want our children to become activists. All of them must become activists. But export activists. So we are looking for positive things,” Budi said in his speech at the Campuspreneur event at IPB University, Bogor, on Friday (12/6/2026). According to him, young people must have clear aspirations from an early age to be able to determine their future direction. “If at this age you still don’t know what your goal is, you tend not to know what you want to be in the future. So now you must have aspirations, you must have dreams. That football player Ronaldo said, ‘The dreams that make us progress are not the dreams we get while sleeping, but the dreams that make us unable to sleep.’ That’s according to Ronaldo,” he said. He then linked this spirit to the world of exports, which the government is currently pushing. “So if you can’t sleep because you’re dreaming of becoming an exporter, that’s good. How to become an exporter until you can’t sleep, that’s good. Not because of other dreams. That’s what we must do,” he said. According to Budi, the Ministry of Trade has prepared various facilities to help students and young entrepreneurs develop their products, ranging from design consultations to promotion and market access. “So how can your products enter the domestic market as well. We prepare the market, we have a design clinic, we also prepare the design. Everything is free, so if you want to consult on design, everything is free. That’s what we do,” he said. Budi also invited students to take advantage of the Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) which will be held on 14-18 October 2026. In that exhibition, the Ministry of Trade plans to provide a special space for campus-based entrepreneurs. “Don’t forget on 14 to 18 October we have the Trade Expo. We will bring in buyers… we will create a special booth for campuspreneur if the budget is available. But it is available, we will find it, it’s there,” he said. Budi cited the success of a product promotion programme previously facilitated by the Ministry of Trade through the ‘Pilihan Busan’ booth. Out of around 15 companies that participated in the programme, most managed to secure transactions. “At the last TEI there was a Pilihan Busan booth, out of about 15 companies, 10 of them got transactions. Transactions included a radio, also fostered by IPB. It got a transaction for 2,000 units of radios,” Budi revealed. “So much so that he couldn’t produce them himself, eventually he gathered MSMEs,” he continued. Furthermore, he disclosed that the Ministry of Trade is currently collaborating with 19 universities to provide export training and to match students with potential buyers from abroad. “We have collaborated with 19 campuses. So we provide training and then after that business matching. I think today there is also business matching with Singapore, our representative in Singapore. These are the facilities we provide, export training for our university students,” he said. According to Budi, students do not need to worry if they do not have their own factory or product. They can still engage in export activities by becoming aggregators who connect MSME products with international markets. “Then not only training but how to sell those goods. So don’t worry, ‘Oh sir, I don’t have a product, I don’t have a factory.’ You don’t have to. Exporters or these students can become aggregators,” he said. “Yes, an aggregator is how you can sell products from MSMEs. Just collect MSME products, foster them, then standardise them, then we are able to sell them. So it’s the marketing. In rough terms, it’s a broker, that’s fine. But that’s exactly what we are looking for, aggregators. We gathered 300 aggregators in Jakarta,” he explained. Budi assessed that these aggregators are the spearhead in efforts to increase Indonesia’s exports. “Because they are our spearhead. You are our spearhead to continue increasing our exports,” he said. On that occasion, Budi also encouraged students not to be solely oriented towards seeking jobs after graduation. He hopes that university graduates will be able to create jobs through entrepreneurship. “We want our children, these students, when they graduate to become entrepreneurs. Don’t be busy looking for work after graduating, but be able to create jobs for our environment and for yourselves,” Budi said. Budi revealed that the business matching programme run by the Ministry of Trade has generated significant export transactions. In this scheme, fostered MSMEs present to Indonesia’s trade representatives abroad before being directly matched with potential buyers. “Fostered MSMEs present to our representatives abroad, to the ITPC attachés. After that, the ITPC attachés find buyers. Once buyers are found, the participants present again directly to the buyers, all online,” he explained. As a result, throughout 2025, export transactions from this programme reached US$134.8 million, or more than Rp2 trillion. Interestingly, around 70% of the business actors involved had never previously exported. “And last year (2025) the transactions reached US$134.8 million, or more than Rp2 trillion. These were MSMEs, 70% of whom had never exported. This year, from January to April, it’s already US$193.88 million. So it has already exceeded last year’s full-year figure. And this is only up to April,” he said.