400 Students from 10 Universities Participate in the 2023 Wirausaha Merdeka Expo

Banjarbaru – Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) held the 2023 Independent Entrepreneur Expo (WMK) on Thursday (14/12/2023) at the ULM Banjarbaru Auditorium. This activity is a series of the Wirausaha Merdeka (WMK) program at ULM. Apart from holding an exhibition of student entrepreneurial products, this time ULM also invited Barry Kusuma to be a resource person at the Video & Photography Product Workshop.

Barry is a travel photo blogger and top Indonesian content creator. He has many works in the fields of photography and videography. These works were published through his social media which then succeeded in attracting people’s attention to like his works and become followers of his social media accounts. It is hoped that the holding of the Video & Photography Product workshop and Barry’s presence as a resource person can improve students’ hard skills in accompanying their steps in the study process until graduation.

ULM Vice Rector for Cooperation, Public Relations and Information Systems Dr. Ir. Yusuf Azis, M.Sc was present at this activity representing the Rector of ULM Prof. Dr. Ahmad Alim Bachri, S.E., M.Sc., he said that the Rector and the ULM leadership would like to thank the 2023 WMK management team and also the partners who were on board this year’s WMK participants. This activity is also the culmination of the Independent Entrepreneurship activities carried out at ULM for 1 semester starting in August and ending in December 2023.

Independent Entrepreneurship is part of the Independent Campus program of the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology which provides opportunities for students to learn and develop themselves to become potential entrepreneurs through activities outside of lectures.

The Wirausaha Merdeka Program collaborates with Program Implementing Universities to develop entrepreneurial learning that is able to hone the entrepreneurial spirit, encourage increased entrepreneurial experience and increase students’ employability abilities.

This activity was also attended by the Head of the South Kalimantan Province Cooperative and SME Service who represented the Governor of South Kalimantan, Sahbirin Noor. He said that the Governor of South Kalimantan really welcomed the holding of the 2023 Wirausaha Merdeka Expo which was an implementation of the Ministry of Education and Culture’s WMK program. He said that the WMK and Kemdikbudristek programs were in line with the provincial government’s program, namely increasing community entrepreneurial interest and increasing employment opportunities.

“It is time for South Kalimantan’s young generation to develop their competitiveness and productivity in the field of entrepreneurship, so that they can grow into reliable entrepreneurial reporters and can create jobs,” he said.

By running the WMK Program for 1 semester in 2023, it is also hoped that it can foster the motivation of young people, especially students, to be able to develop interest and competence in the business world.

“To the students who attended the event, this is an opportunity to learn from colleagues who have experience in the business field,” he added.

Lambung Mangkurat University has been selected twice in a row as the university organizer or facilitator of the Wirausaha Merdeka program. This year, ULM became the facilitator of the Independent Entrepreneurship program for approximately 400 students from 10 universities including ULM itself. There are 9 other universities, including STIKIP Paris Barantai Kotabaru, Tanah Laut State Polytechnic, Sari Mulia University, Hasnur Polytechnic, Muhammadiyah University Banjarmasin, Ahmad Yani University, Balikpapan University and even outside the island of Kalimantan, namely from STKIP PGRI Sumenep and Makassar State University.

The Wirausaha Merdeka Program is one of the implementations of the Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) program created by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. In this program, students will have the opportunity to learn and develop themselves to become potential entrepreneurs through joint activities outside of lectures. Through the implementation of the WMK program, it is hoped that universities can produce student graduates who become brilliant entrepreneurs, who are part of the 4% of entrepreneurs in Indonesia as a developed country.