I

ndonesia has grabbed this year's Global Enterprise Challenge, beating two former champions New Zealand and the United States in the final, destroying the myth that Indonesians, like many islanders, are entrepreneurially challenged.

Indonesia became the first Asian country to ever win the annual competition for youths between 16 and 19 years of age from all around the world.

First joining the contest in 2002, Indonesia improved on last year's sixth place to come in first, beating last year's champions New Zealand and the United States (2007) and others boasting strong entrepreneurship like Germany, Australia, Scotland, Japan, South Africa, South Korea and Singapore.

According to the Surya Institute, which selected and groomed the Indonesian participants, the winners were announced by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Sandra Magnus in a live web stream on Tuesday night.

The biggest tribute goes to the six participants in the team: Wismaya Adi Purnama of SMA Taruna Nusantara senior high school in Magelang, Lita Gunawan of SMAK Yahya in Bandung, Rizki Satrio Nugroho of Madania PIS in Bogor, Evelyn Antoinette of Bina Bangsa School in Jakarta, Asyraf Firas Abdurrasyid of SMAN1 Bandung and Christia Yona Twedrian of SMA Regina Pacis in Bogor.

Participating teams had 24 hours to answer a challenge announced by NASA on Monday via the Internet. This year, teams were asked to come up with a product design or an innovative service, including a sustainable business model, that would reduce gross food waste found all over the world, and help overcome hunger in poor countries.

The teams' prototype solution then had to be presented in a three-minute video recording in English. (The Indonesian winning team's presentation is available at the Youtube Website www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP6iZEtSUEA.)

The victory is another accolade for the Surya Institute, named after its founder Prof. Yohanes Surya, which in the past has helped select and groom many winners of Science Olympics and other international science competitions.

The institute worked with United in Diversity (UID), which is affiliated with the MIT Sloane School of Management, in organizing the ASEAN Science Enterprise Challenge that selected the delegation to take part in this week's global competition, PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk and Saratoga Investama.