Written by Student Reporter, Deo Fernando (Entrepreneurship 2021)
Sodiko Hidayad, student majoring in Entrepreneurship bacth 2019, School of Business and Management (SBM)-ITB is one of the graduates at the October graduation (wisokto) ceremony of the academic year 2018/2019 at Sabuga Building, Friday 10/18/2019). This graduation was very special for Sodiko because he had succeeded in establishing the Eduka System startup with his friends and various other achievements during his three-year at SBM-ITB.
Eduka system itself is a platform to practice UTBK / SBMPTN for high school students who will want to enter college. Eduka system began launching in November 2018. In the first 7 months, they managed to get 300 thousand student registrants. The eduka system team also got guidance from the LPIK ITB and Greather Hub-SBM as well as additional funding from LPIK ITB, the BIP Bekraf program, and from Angel investors.
As of October 1, 2019 there were already more than 550 thousand students registered on the eduka platform. Those who started with only four of them now have grown to 60 teams, and in the previous few months had managed to hold 10 times UTBK tryouts for high school students. At the present time, Sodiko and friends are also developing practice try out to deal with tests or examinations for high school students. This success did not make Sodiko forget about others, as gratitude Sudiko and his friends cooporate with Skhole ITB to provide educational assistance in supporting the education of children around ITB.
Sodiko’s interest in business knowledge has been seen since Senior high school (SMA) where at that time his days were filled with studying marketing and business. Not only that, since Senior High School Sodiko has been able to make their own money from various projects that he is working on. With a million to two million in income every month he uses to save money, take part in seminars, and study online business.
This interest made Sodiko have a dream to become a businessman and enter the School of Business and Management (SBM)-ITB even though his parents did not support his decision. Uncle, Aunt, and other siblings who worked as civil servants (PNS) and bank employees made his parents suggest to follow in their footsteps as civil servants because they saw the prosperous life of his brother. But for Sodiko it’s not just about the problem of employees or businessman, but rather the passion of Sodiko who enjoys business and technology. Even more surprising is that knowing the tuition fees at SBM-ITB is not cheap and the distance from home (he is from Probolinggo) makes his parents hesitate to support the decision. Sodiko took 2 years to convince his parents to support his dream of joining SBM-ITB (finally his parents give license), but for the problem of cost, it made Sodiko find it difficult to achieve his dream. Tuition fees per semester at SBM-ITB which reaches 20 million and one year there are 3 semesters or 60 million per year makes Sodiko not dare to take the best business school in Indonesia. Fortunately, there was a friend in the Sodiko class who supported and said that at ITB there were no students expelled because they had no money, thus reviving Sodiko’s dreams and hopes to enter SBM-ITB. Finally in 2016 Sodiko ventured to take SBM-ITB by taking an entrepreneurial specialization. This is where Sodiko’s success began where it began with being a SBM-ITB student.
In his good fortune, Sodiko also won a Bidikmisi scholarship. When receiving a Bidikmisi scholarship, Sodiko was required to live in a dormitory and that’s where he met with Faiz (Informatics 2016) who had the same interests. They have a dream to create a digital startup that can have an impact on society. From there, they often take part in business ideas and business case competitions to train their critical thinking. Sodiko has achieved many achievements, including winning the favorite business model champion (by BIPI IKOPIN & the Ministry of cooperative and Small Medium Entreprize) in 2017 as well as the first winner in the Martha Tilaar case business competition.
Not enough there, Sodiko along with his friends Faiz, Daniel, and Habibi took part in a business competition for students organized by ITB. This is where the beginning of the Eduka system which at the first succeeded in achieving funding of 10 million from ITB 2018 PMW. When met us on Wednesday (16/10/2019) Sodiko said. “Collaboration is very important in building a business or startup, do not limit yourself because there is no capital or so, if you have good idea there will be investors who will provide funds. Then my suggestion for ITB students is, if our business growth then we must also growth, don’t leave academic activities if our business has advanced. As a college student we have to use all of the opportunity to develop ourselves.”
