Undana develops business incubator to produce young entrepreneurs
Kupang, NTT - Nusa Cendana University (Undana) is developing a business incubator to build a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) through business mentoring for students and the wider community.
Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) Undana Dr. Roland E. Fanggidae said in Kupang on Monday that the business incubator is one of Undana’s steps in supporting the university’s policy direction towards becoming a research and entrepreneurship-based institution.
“Through this incubator we want to bridge students’ ideas into the business world. They do not only have ideas, but we mentor them so that the ideas become businesses capable of surviving in the market,” he said.
He explained that the FEB Undana business incubator is not a new programme because mentoring for entrepreneurial students has been carried out over the past several years. However, the legal status and dedicated space for the incubator were only realised in 2026.
FEB Undana has also held training for lecturers to become mentors for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and incubators, with mentoring resources that already hold certification.
“The ultimate goal is not merely to produce job seekers, but how Undana can produce young people who are able to create jobs or become job creators,” he said.
Roland also explained that the FEB Undana business incubator takes a different approach from general entrepreneurship training. Participants are not only given materials, but are mentored comprehensively from idea development to product market entry.
In addition, mentoring is carried out for three years until participants are deemed capable of running their businesses independently.
“Usually when training ends, participants are left to develop on their own. In this incubator, that is not the case. We mentor them from conceptualising ideas until they are in the market and independent,” he said.
He said the mentoring covers opportunity identification, product development, feasibility testing, business model preparation, market validation, and preparation for business development.
Besides students and alumni, the FEB Undana business incubator will in future be open to the NTT community who need entrepreneurship mentoring, including consultations related to product development, packaging and business models.
“This mentoring service is free. We also help participants seek access to funding from various sources, including through entrepreneurship competitions,” he said.
Roland said the incubator can also serve as a literacy platform for MSME actors so they are prepared to access financing, including People’s Business Credit (KUR), so that the businesses they develop become increasingly bankable.
According to him, the incubator does not limit the types of businesses developed because all MSME potential in NTT has opportunities to be developed through the incubation process.
Furthermore, Roland said the existence of the business incubator is expected not only to be oriented towards increasing the number of young entrepreneurs, but also to build a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in NTT.
“We want all young people’s entrepreneurial ideas not to stop at the idea stage. The idea must be tested, produced, then enter the market. From there we can build a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in NTT,” he said.
He added that developing this ecosystem is important because attention to entrepreneurship has so far been directed more at the number of entrepreneurs, products or business premises produced, while sustainable mentoring still needs to be strengthened.
“This is a gap that has not yet been addressed. We do not only want to produce one, two or three entrepreneurs, but to build an entrepreneurship ecosystem that can continue to grow in NTT,” he said.