Ruth Emmanuella Prinscilla (Geophysics 2020), Nur Fidia Alim (Chemistry 2020), and Serina Natasha Br. Surbakti (Economics 2020) won 3rd place in the 2021 Choir Express Java Business Competition held by Telkom University. The theme of the international National Business Plan Competition was “Creativity Innovation in Local Digital Business Economy by using Digital Platform for Youth Entrepreneur”.

After going through a series of quite strict selections, the team named Mirare proved that they deserved to be the three best teams out of 100 other teams participating in the competition.

The competition scheme is broadly divided into three, namely the collection of proposals, the announcement of the top 10 followed by technical meeting, serta presentasi tahap final.

“For the competition flow, first we were asked to create a Business Model Canvas (BMC). Then, when we passed the semifinals, we made a proposal and in the final stage we did pitching di depan para judges. Untuk teknis presentasi dilakukan secara bergantian dengan tim lain di breakout room. The time given was about 8 minutes, but we were able to go faster. The Q&A session was also faster than the time given, which was only about 6-8 minutes. I was also happy because judges-he seems interested in our business,” said Serina as one of the team members.

In the competition, Mirare brought a platform innovation that is able to help creative micro UMKM business actors in selling typical Indonesian products. The idea was inspired by the limited market opportunities for micro UMKM. So it is not uncommon to find creative industries that do not yet have a market. This situation is further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic which limits the mobility and activities of most people.

To the FMIPA UI public relations team, Ruth as the team leader conveyed, “The business idea that we created is entitled ‘Loc’ which is taken from the word ‘Local’. Loc is a buying and selling site. online which brings together sellers and buyers from all over the world. The values ​​upheld by Loc are to help the economy of micro creative industry players by prioritizing the dissemination of unique and valuable Indonesian culture throughout the world,” said Ruth.

Explaining further, Ruth said that every product listed on Loc has its own cultural value or uniqueness which will be informed directly through its website. This aims so that every buyer does not only buy to get the goods, but also history behind the product. They aim to spread Indonesian culture to buyers from all over the world.

The marketing strategy that will be carried out by the Mirare Team can also be said to be unique. Unlike online marketplace Others hold Harbolnas once a month, Loc actually provides different promos according to the big days in the provinces in Indonesia.

“So, we will hold a promotion day every 3 months with different Indonesian cultural themes. Later, on each promotion day, the appearance of our platform will also change according to a certain cultural theme. This idea can be said to be unique because currently there are still very few businesses that look at the beauty of Indonesian culture,” added Ruth.

Speaking of challenges, Serina said that her team’s biggest challenge was when they had to divide their time between the competition and their studies. However, Mirare agreed that their hard work had paid off with the victory and the benefits they gained.

Closing the interview session, they advised other students to remain enthusiastic in exploring their potential, dare to have commitments, and that it is never too late to learn.

Choir Java Business Competition 2021 is an annual event organized by Telkom University. The competition is enlivened by four series of events, namely Paper Competition, Business Plan Competition, UI/UX Design Competition, and webinars broadcast via Zoom Meeting and Youtube.

As for timeline for the Business Plan Competition, it begins with registration and submission of proposals (30 July – 25 August 2021), announcement of the Top 10 (3 September 2021), presentation and closing (7 September 2021), and announcement of the winners which will be announced at the end of the webinar (12 September 2021).