On Wednesday, March 27th 2019, students from Entrepreneurship Program visited Lentera i-farm site at Cisarua, West Bandung Regency. This visit was part of Business Planning and Feasibility course, which was intended to give a closer look on how to successfully develop a start-up company with science and technology background.
A total of 33 students accompanied by lectures and student mentors arrived at the site and were warmly greeted by Hendri Djoesan from Lentera Bumi Nusantara, Rudi Maulana from Proxsis Consulting Group, and team of Griin.id. The students were excited to see the unique wooden house combined with amazing hill view in the background.
The event was started with talks and opened by a speech by Dr. Leo Aldianto on behalf of SBM ITB. In the first session, Hendri Djoesan delivered a presentation on Lentera Bumi Nusantara (LBN) as a holding company and its subsidiaries including Lentera i-Farm as an incubator of PT. Gelora Rempah Inti Indonesia or Griin.id. LBN focuses on delivering technological solutions by collectively utilizing the potential of energy, food, and water for the development of the nation. LBN’s focus is R&D of renewable energy technology, electric vehicles, community-based agriculture and technology camp/ education.
To increase agriculture activities, Lentera iFarm at Cisarua, Lembang was established in 2016 by Hendri Djoesan, with the main activity of integrating agriculture business with technology and education to improve the welfare of farmers, especially in maintaining food security and sovereignty. From the activities of Lentera iFarm, Griin.id, a start-up, was initiated and incubated in late 2017. The focus of Griin.id is in R&D of Agro Technology, Agro Industry and Agro Education.
In the second session, Rudi Maulana gave a fruitful talk on how to successfully build a start-up company. The talk was very interactive that students could actively discuss various topics regarding starting a successful start-up company from ideation, organization purpose, and building a solid team. This session ended with question and answer session where students can dig up more knowledge from the speakers.
After lunch break, the event was continued with a site tour. The participants were divided into three groups. Each group visited three sections of the site: two different laboratories and a screenhouse. The laboratories are R&D and production facilities of various products such as oleoresin and hydrosol products. Meanwhile, in the screenhouse, the participants could see an aquaponics system and Black Soldier Flies maggot cultivation for protein source production.
Hopefully, this field trip would help them develop their business ideas into a viable business and ignite their motivation for developing their brilliant ideas. Furthermore, this visit has initiated further collaborations between several teams and Lentera iFarm.