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To work or not to work
High school and vocational school students from flag-raising team Paskibraka Matraman practice in front of the Youth Pledge Museum on Jl
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span class="inline inline-none">High school and vocational school students from flag-raising team Paskibraka Matraman practice in front of the Youth Pledge Museum on Jl. Kramat Raya, Central Jakarta. (JP/P.J. Leo)
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty, so Winston Churchill once said.
“Coming from humble parents, there was the moment when I questioned what should I do to make my own money,” clothing businessman Ganjar Wiriaatmadja, 24, told The Jakarta Post during an exhibition for young entrepreneurs, which was endorsed by Bank Mandiri, recently.
“Working at a factory or for a company was certainly not an option because I was too young. In 2005 when I was still in high school, I had the idea of going into retail. At that time, I sold various items, anything from music cassettes to steamed-dumplings on sidewalks in Bandung,” he said.
Ganjar began to sell T-shirts he bought from the many growing clothing businesses in his city. Despite the need to making money, Arie chose T-shirts because he had a passion for graphic design and drawing, which he could apply to T-shirts.
As Ganjar expanded his business, he decided to kit out his small factory with five sewing machines.
Starting last year, Ganjar took the serious step of asking some friends to become partners in his business in order to expand his factory, CV Suneri Eka Jaya.
“I’ve experienced some good and bad things along the way. In 2010, my warehouse was burglarized and I got conned by one of my then ring-one people. At the time, I handled the business by myself. After those incidents, I realized that I couldn’t work alone,” he reflected.
“Thank God, all is well now. Our overall revenue in 2001 reached Rp 800 million [US$83.285],” added Ganjar, who is inspired by Marius Widyarto, founder and owner of C-59, a Bandung-based clothing line and factory that is among the top in Indonesia.
Ganjar said that he planned to widen his factory’s coverage to the US market from its current markets in Europe and Africa.
In comparison, 22-year-old Arie Setya Yudha chose a more specific focus for his business and targeted those who love air soft-gun clothing and military uniforms.
“I started my line, Molay, in November 2009,” said Communication Science student at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.
“Initially, I had an interest in air soft games, which continue to this day. At that time a complete suit for the game was Rp 4 million per unit. I saw an opportunity to open a business in relation to that hobby,” shared Arie, who originally comes from Pekanbaru, Riau.
Having a limited startup budget, Arie spent Rp 75,000 on three pairs of protective eyeglasses in Jakarta.
“I sold each pair for Rp 55,000 on kaskus.co.id [Indonesian online community]. Luckily for me, it went really well and once I had collected Rp 280,000 I produced my first Molay air soft outfit,” he added.
Now, Arie has two administrative officers plus seven tailors to help in the day-to-day running of Molay. “We have seven sewing machines and three of them are industrial,” he said.
Arie’s biggest client is Satuan 1 Gegana, the Indonesian Police mobile brigade’s bomb squad. Early this year, the squad ordered 40 suits as its field tactical uniform. Each of the suits cost Rp 450,000.
“I really hope my cooperation with Gegana will continue. It would be great if we got the whole detachment, which is 200 people,” said Arie, who uses Facebook as his main retail display platform.
“The main thing about our products is that we have great quality sewing and a good selection of yarn. We pick the best material from Indonesia or overseas, such as the US. As I am a collector of military uniforms from around the world myself, the most solid thing about my product is the design. I personally design and choose all the fabrics,” he added.
So far, Arie has earned Rp 125 million in revenue, and says that he plans to open an outlet in Jakarta to expand his business.
Embracing the world of work is definitely not exclusively for university students. In many areas of the country, vocational schools prepare students for a better future.
“We have set up cooperation with at least 200 industries nationwide so far. We teach the students and prepare them for real work in the industry,” SMK 1 Singosari headmaster Sali Rochani told The Jakarta Post. SMK 1 Singosari vocational school is among Indonesia’s top vocational schools.
Sali said that Trakindo Utama, official supplier and distributor for Caterpillar Equipment in Indonesia, hires 64 students a year.
“We’ve done it since 1996, you can do the counting for how many ex-students we have here,” said Sali, who is an alumni of the vocational school.
Besides supplying human resources for the heavy equipment industry, SMK 1 Singosari also assembles cars and produces car engines. Esemka is the government’s national vehicle.
“We are among the nationwide vocational schools that have assembled 12 units of Esemka SUVs, as well as produced 200 engines for Esemka cars. In the automotive industry, car assembly can be done in a matter of hours. But in school, we make it three months per car because we assemble manually,” shared Sali.
