Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry Encourages Youth to Have Entrepreneurial Spirit

Jakarta, InfoPublik - Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry held Entrepreneurship training as part of Entrepreneurship Movement at Sunan Kalijaga Islamic University. The event was attended by 600 students of various universities and islamic boarding schools (pesantren) in Yogyakarta and its surrounding areas.

The Ministry’s Human Resources Deputy Prakoso Budi Susetyo said his administration will continue encouraging and motivating the students to have entrepreneurial spirit.

"I believe all students here have plenty of ideas to become entrepreneurs, only not immediately implemented," he said through its official statement in Jakarta, Saturday (11/2).

The number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia reached 1.65 percent or about 3.7 million, while to become a developed country, a country needs at least two percent entrepreneurs out of its population. It means if Indonesia's population is 252 million people, it will need 4.8 million entrepreneurs.

Prakoso stated that Entrepreneurship Movement is one of the Government's efforts to tackle poverty and unemployment issues. In facing ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), SMEs will inevitably have to improve themselves and should take advantage of investment opportunities and gain market potential.

Moreover, today’s market behavior is changing which is characterized by dynamic markets, competitive, and tendency of building networks through the use of information technology (IT). IT in the globalization era becomes a fast and accurate communication tool.

"Nowadays, buying and selling activities are not limited by time and place since they can be carried out online which eventually makes business activity more efficient," he said. (Translator: Siti Chodijah)