UNS — The Directorate of Academic Reputation and Student Affairs, Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, held the 2022 UNS Entrepreneurship Expo. This Expo will be held at the Solo Technopark from June 30 to July 2, 2022, on the theme of “De Java à Paris” or “Saking Jawi Dateng Paris (From Java to Paris),” considering its target to build export opportunities to France. Paris became the target market in this year’s Expo as a follow-up to the initiative carried out by the Mayor of Surakarta, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, some time ago by introducing Solo in Paris through an art show performance on Ravioli Street, Paris, France, alongside with the Indonesian singer Anggun C. Sasmi.
The Director of Academic Reputation and Student Affairs Sutanto, S.Si. DEA., stated that it would be unfortunate if the Mayor’s phenomenal steps were not followed by all community members’ movements. For this reason, UNS, as one of the universities in Surakarta, contributes to this movement by holding this Expo. “Our intention today is to follow up the agenda set by Mayor Solo in Paris. Previously, the response of the people there (in Paris) was excellent, Indonesia’s reputation was getting known, and the French people talked about our city. To support this move, we are looking for more products from Solo, Ngawi, and beyond. These products will be assessed, and then we will find a sponsor to distribute the product, to send the product to Paris, to the gallery in France,” explained Dr. Sutanto at the soft opening of the UNS Entrepreneurship (KWU) Expo on Thursday (30/6/2022).
This initiative was welcomed by the Head of the Surakarta City Cooperative and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Office, Wahyu Kristina, as one of the Solo delegates at the show in Paris, who also appreciates the UNS Entrepreneurship (KWU) Expo. According to her, this activity is a concrete form of community support for the Surakarta City Government’s agenda. “I delivered a message from the Mayor. He highly appreciated this activity because to achieve QPI, UNS has developed students’ products, SMEs, and its partner villages, to be displayed at this Expo, which also worked with La Maison de l’Indonesie,” Kristina said.
The products exhibited in this Expo will be curated by four curators, namely the owner of La Maison de I’Indonesie, Mathieu Mergans; the owner of UD. Berlawalata Solo; importer of Indonesian products in France, Diana; and Deputy of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce, Liliek Setiawan, S.E. The products that pass the curation stage will be tested for export to Paris. On the other hand, UNS will provide assistance in finding sponsors who will buy product samples and fund the shipping process to Paris, thus, the products can enter the Paris market, and the product owners can follow up on the export process independently.
Aside from the exhibition, the Expo will be enlivened by several activities, including a workshop on student village entrepreneurship development, a student entrepreneurship product development workshop, and the performance of each participating SME or student organization at UNS. Humas UNS
Reporter: Ida Fitriyah
Editor: Dwi Hastuti