Essay for Australia Award Scholarship (AAS)
How did you choose your proposed course and institution?
In the 2040, it is predicted that Indonesia will become one of the economic leaders of the world. However, I am uncertain that my hometown, Nganjuk, would be able to experience such things in such a short time as it’s been 1000 years since its inception and Nganjuk is still one of the rural areas in Indonesia that has the lowest level of productivity and income. Besides, International trade in South-East Asia had been implemented since 2016, and in the upcoming future, it is predicted that it will force Indonesian entrepreneurs including me to compete with other business. Based on this situation, it has always been my dream to be involved in my nation’s development process by participating in the field that I am able to contribute in, which is Business and Economics: I want to ensure that Indonesia’s ambitious development goals are not merely wishful thinking, starting from myself.
With that in mind, my first objective is to gain more knowledge and experience in business by continuing my studies. There are some programs offered by universities in the Australia that suit my interests and future plans. The program that I’m most interested in would be the Master of Entrepreneurship and innovation program offered by the Australian National University as the program will strengthen foundation of entrepreneurship and creative business. Interestingly, students are encouraged to think creative to Adapt to complex and uncertain situations in business based on customer trend. Henceforth, as an entrepreneur, I believe this course is the most suitable one for me as it focuses entirely on business development. Alternatively, other programmes that also draw my interests are the master of business in Queensland university. In this programs, students are required to utilize digital devices such online advertisements in order to meet the customer demand and to increase business revenue from online resources. Based on the curriculums I see that any of the two universities mentioned above would help me to maximize my potential to be a good entrepreneur
How will the proposed study contribute to your career?
I realized that a comprehensive education related to my interest in business is essential in achieving my goals and career plans as an entrepreneur. The master degree will greatly improve my entrepreneurial capabilities and enable me to develop the potency of my hometown. I believe that by doing any of these programs, I will learn to manage and utilize natural and human resource efficiently. My immediate plan after finishing my master degree, would be to return to my home country and establish a business firm. This time, I plan to establish business that are based on agricultural resources in large scale as agriculture becomes main commodity on my hometown. By implementing innovation knowledge and deep insight about customer trends, I will be able to make products regarding customers demand and promote them creatively.
Subsequently, I would also like to participate in government programs that are designed to aid the development of small medium enterprises (SME) as I see that SME in Nganjuk still lack of management system and innovation. Hence, they need to improve their business if they want to compete in International Trade. Thus, I would like to share the knowledge and experience in business and entrepreneurship that I will obtain in Australia to the SME owners in Nganjuk. I believe that such knowledge is essential for them in expanding their businesses.
Studying in one of the best universities in Australia will also expand opportunity to meet and collaborate with entrepreneurs in Australia. In this case, as a prospective Australia Award alumnus I would participate to become a bridge between Indonesia and Australia by participating in the international trade by collaborating export and import in agriculture or any other fields.
How have you contributed to solving a challenge and to implementing change or reform? (Be specific and include: what aspect/s of your leadership knowledge, skills and practice you consider to be well established and effective; which people or organisations you worked with to solve the problem; and what creative methods were used.)
During my undergraduate study, I implemented my business skills to aid the development of an SME in Tuban. In Tuban, people used to make a sweet beverage named Legen and an alcoholic beverage known as Tuwak from the sap of siwalan trees. The recurring issue at that time was the fact that the government had prohibited the sales of Tuwak because it contains alcohol. Yet, Tuwak was the main revenue of the Tuban locals as Legen has low demands. As a result, the newly instated law made some people lose their main revenue source and eventually force some other people to illegally sell Tuak..
To combat this situation, my colleagues and I came up with an idea to produce another type of beverage from the sap of siwalan trees, which we would refer as Raja Legen. We gave additional value to the product by giving it a proper packaging, a brand name, and also clinical tests so that it would be more popular and could be sold with a high price. In initiating the project, my team used an interpersonal approach by inviting the locals to for a dinner three times before eventually discussing about the project. The method was successful and the local people were interested in participating in our program. After that, I created a marketing team to promote this product. It was my duty to search potential market outside Tuban. To accelerate the sales of Raja Legen, I choose to sell product to resellers or shops so that the local people could focus more on the production process. Although the profit would be decreased, this method eventually increased the total sales of Raja Legen. I succeeded to initiate this scheme and Raja Legen was able to penetrate large markets and be distributed via stores and supermarkets, including the Indonesian giant supermarkets Carrefour and Giant in several cities, namely Surabaya, Tuban and Jakarta. I was so grateful that this project could increase their revenue of people in Tuban by 20%-30% and eventually assisted the development of a village in their area. These experiences had improved my leadership capabilities and practical skill as a socio-entrepreneur
Please:‐ a) give up to three practical examples of how you intend to use the knowledge, skills and connections you will gain from your scholarship. Possible tasks can be personal and/or professional; and b) list any possible constraints you think may prevent you from achieving these tasks.
a) Firstly, I will use the knowledge and experience that I will obtain from conducting my education in Australia to establish a small business that will benefit the locals of Nganjuk by creating job opportunities and also increasing the local government’s revenue through tax. Secondly, I will also dedicate myself to help the small medium enterprises (SME) in Nganjuk, starting from helping the development of local Small-to-Medium-Enterprises to aspiring young entrepreneurs to develop businesses. I sincerely believe that aspiring younger people and empowering them with business knowledge would be an invaluable asset to Nganjuk in increasing their economic condition.. Thirdly, I want to develop Chony Zamany, which is my family’s non-profit organization that is located in countryside of Nganjuk. I want to develop this organization further by establishing sub-business unit for this organization and allow the students to do a part time job. The student could gain work experience and income, while the organization could gain additional revenue by broading their operational activities
b) The lack of capital and experience for the establishment of a huge enterprise inhibits my ability to immediately make a huge impact in my hometown. To overcome this, I would make a prototype or small scaled business for 2–3 years to ensure that my business can run well. After that I would make an investing scheme to obtain more capital. By obtaining obtain sufficient entrepreneur skill, experience, knowledge and business network during my master study that will help me to create well-managed business scheme which could accelerate business and could attract more investor. Besides, I will have challenges in convincing the local people to join government programs as in Indonesia, government related SME programs mostly could not run well because the motivators and trainers don’t have entrepreneurship backgrounds. Furthermore, I see that most people in Nganjuk tend to respect and listen to people with a high social stature. Thus, by having sustainable business, I would be able to dedicate myself to develop Nganjuk
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