UNS – The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held an event entitled “Kick Off The Gade Sociopreneurship Challenge 2023” on Monday (9/10/2023) at the Suhardi Building FEB UNS. This event aims to empower youth sociopreneurs for sustainable impact and enhance financial literacy among millennials. The event was attended by Prof. Drs. Djoko Suhardjanto, M.Com. (Hons), Ph.D., Ak., Dean of FEB UNS; Eka Febriansyah, Director of Network, Operations and Sales at Pegadaian; and Catur Sugiarto, S.E., M.SM., M.Rech., Ph.D., CDMP., as Head of the UNS Innovation Hub Business Incubator.
The Gade Sociopreneurship Challenge is a competition for social business and social startup ideas open to students from all over Indonesia, initiated by PT Pegadaian. In collaboration with the Indonesian Association of Islamic Economists (Ikatan Ahli Ekonomi Islam Indonesia-IAEI), it serves as an incubation platform for young individuals to create social benefits through social entrepreneurship. Youth are encouraged to become sociopreneurs by identifying social issues and needs as opportunities to enhance sustainable societal impact. These business ideas will be proposed in The Gade Sociopreneurship Challenge, aiming to address or support one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to contribute to achieving Indonesia’s SDGs by 2030.
Catur Sugiarto, S.E., M.SM., M.Rech., Ph.D., CDMP., Head of the UNS Innovation Hub Business Incubator, stated in his address that an event like this is necessary to increase the percentage of entrepreneurship programs at the national level. The Gade Sociopreneurship program serves as a solution for UNS to meet students’ entrepreneurial needs.
“With this program, we hope the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in higher education, particularly at UNS, will further develop. We welcome this event as an honor for our university, which has produced 7% of graduates who are already entrepreneurs,” Catur said.
Eka Febriansyah, Director of Network, Operations and Sales at Pegadaian, also expressed the importance of making good use of this opportunity. There will be numerous positive aspects for the students. PT Pegadaian will participate in providing funding, investment, and networking.
“Through this program, we aim to nurture young sociopreneurs who are ready to enter the business world after graduation. We will also provide assistance to students so that their innovations can be implemented and beneficial,” Eka concluded. Humas UNS
Reporter: Dhelinta FP
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
