When I left high school years ago, I wanted so much to get a place to study at Institute Teknologi Bandung (ITB), one of Indonesia’s most prestigious universities. Sadly I never had the chance to study there, and never imagined the chance to actually lecture there.
Since 2013, I have been involved with the ITB’s MBA program in the UK, a collaborative programme between ITB and Goldsmith University here in London. I feel truly privileged to have given the opportunity to share skills and experience of living here in the UK with the visiting students and sharing my passion for all things Indonesian with them.
On 20 April 2018, I was invited to visit the ITB campus, meeting their MBA students and shared with them the beauty of Indonesian traditional textiles and their business potential globally. Getting involved in a traditional textile business can contribute to the development of tourism in Indonesia, a great way to help build Indonesia’s regional economy.
On this occasion, I shared with them potential online global trading using the internet via global online market places such as eBay, Etsy, and other available online market places globally. Regretfully the students here are not fully aware of all these available tools and have not been guided towards understanding global online market places.
I hope ITB will look into global market places more and include these tools in their curriculum, such as eBay and Etsy, and involve the students to understand the business side of these tools and how to explore PayPal as a global payment gateway as well. Indonesia is one of the biggest craft countries in the world, and yet, our crafts are being sold from Indonesia by foreign traders, operating their businesses remotely, leaving many capable SME’s and potential young entrepreneurs missing these business opportunities.
On this visit, I have invited a young friend to join me, a young potential great designer who is very passionate about Indonesian traditional textiles, Yudha (Wahyu Perdana Saputra) to share some of her great Sumba ikat textile collection. Here, Yudha shared ideas on how to wear Ikat textiles without the need to cut or modify the textiles themselves. I am confident that many students were inspired by our visit and hope they could explore the global markets more and adventure craft businesses going forward.
Our sincere gratitude to Dr Sony Rustiadi and team who have given us the opportunity to share our knowledge and experience with the MBA students at ITB. Hope to share many more great stories with them in the near future.
