ITS Campus, ITS News – The current Covid-19 pandemic is not an excuse to stop doing innovation. This is what Ahmat Yulianto, a student of ITS who poured his idea to win the third place in the Economic National Essay Competition (ENECO) 2020 held by the Executive Council of Students (BEM) Faculty of Economics and Business of the Qur’an University of Science (UNSIQ) in Wonosobo, early last September.

Ahmat Yulianto, Statistics ITS student with the gerdunas program website of his innovation results, 3rd winner of eneco essay competition 2020

Themed as the Role of Students on Post-Pandemic Economic Development Reconstruction, Ahmat presented an essay titled Gerdunas Program (National SME Digitization Movement) to address people’s economic problems in the midst of pandemics. According to him, this is because the policy during this pandemic has a wide impact on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). “We can observe, since the pandemic, the income of MSMEs has decreased,” said this young man from Wonogiri.

In addition, based on his research, Ahmat explained that MSMEs are actually economic sectors that can absorb the most labor compared to other sectors. It’s just that many MSME actors still do not know digital marketing. “Whereas if they (MSME actors, red) understand digital marketing, their income will be much increased,” explained this student of ITS Statistics Department.

Therefore, continued Ahmat, this Gerdunas program became one of the solutions to the decrease in the income of MSMEs. In this program, the cooperation of various parties is needed, such as students, the Ministry of Manpower (Kemenaker), the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (Kemenkop SME), as well as MSME actors as its main targets. “Each of these elements has its own role,” added the 2000-born student.

For The Ministry of Manpower and The Ministry of SMEs, the two work together in terms of preparing and socializing the program to the community, either directly or not. In addition, the two ministries also coordinate well with each other, prepare places, record MSME actors who will participate in training, and supervise the course of this Gerdunas program.

While the role of students as university representatives, Ahmat continued, namely socializing in the area around the campus as a coaching element, as well as overseeing the course of this Gerdunas program. “Students who have been trained first, become the main element in this training. Therefore, it can also be included in the campus KKN (Community Service) program,” he explained.

Website of Gerdunas program innovation results Ahmat Yulianto, ITS Statistics student who won 3rd place in ESSAY ENECO 2020 competitionIn this program, explained Ahmat, it is divided into three training levels, namely beginner level, advanced, and expert. The beginner level is intended for MSMEs who do not know the basics of computers at all, while the level is able to be aimed at MSMEs who know computers but do not yet know digital marketing. “The level of advanced is for those who have undergone a level of being able to,” he said.

More clearly, added Ahmat, at the beginner level, MSME owners will be introduced with a variety of basic computer software, as well as social media that can be utilized. Training on website creation, google ads, copywriting, buyer persona, and content marketing will be taught at a capable level. While at the level of advanced will be taught about Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) and so on.

To make gerdunas program easier, Ahmat designed a special website for this program later. In this website, there are three menus, namely donation menu, guidance area candidacy menu, and guided regional menu. “Through the website, people can donate to the program, recommend new guidance areas, and see which areas have been guided,” he said.

Thanks to his innovations judged by the judges to have great and realistic benefits, Ahmat managed to win third place, setting aside 152 other students in this ENECO competition. He hopes that this achievement can be an inspiration, adding insight into the world of scientific, both in essays, papers, and so on. “Hopefully it can re-ignite my spirit and others to continue to innovate,” he concluded.

(mad/Anjani/ITS Public Relation Officer)