Is everyone interested in solving other people's problems? It’s not common, right? Instead of solving other people's problems, one still faces difficulty to solve his own problems. It could be the cause of the lack understanding of social entrepreneurs. The spirit of social entrepreneurship must be growing and trending especially among students and young people. Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta encourages students to study Social Entrepreneurship, so they will be able to map the neglected social problems in their areas. The training process provides students with not just theory but direct visits to learn from practitioners.
In the Social Entrepreneur training series, a group of participants visited Agradaya, an empowered agraria area, an agricultural business enterprise based in Sendangrejo village, Minggir, Sleman, approximately 15 kilometers Northwest of the city of Yogyakarta (12/11/2022). The students discussed with Andika Mahardika, the initiator of Agradaya, the initial conditions for the founding of Agradaya. According to Andika, Agradaya emerged from a social reality in the price drop of ‘empon-empon’ (ginger, pee, curcuma, etc) faced by farmers during the harvesting time. It made farmers get no money as the profit to improve their welfare. Seeing the condition Andika Mahardika and Asri Saraswati were encouraged to found Agradaya in 2016.
Agradaya cooperated with the Women Farmers Group (KWT) in the Menoreh hill area, Kulonprogo regency which grows empon-empons with abundant harvest. The women farmers are equipped with instructions on how to cultivate ‘empon-empons’ properly, to harvest them and to wstart the production process by drying the wet empon-empons. The resource person took the students on a tour to observe the solar house and the production area in Agradaya while explaining the processes and activities there.
While walking around, a student questioned how to package ordinary products into something that has high economic value. Andika explained that the marketing of Agradaya also thinks about the design by designing attractive product packaging with Agradaya labels. Production with innovations can produce more than one hundred product packages per day. Product promotion utilizes social media and networks, including narratives that strengthen the product so that sales increase. Then the next question relates to Agradaya products. Agradaya produces various products starting from the drying process in the solar house, the dried empon-empons then the process into products with various flavors, such as Red Ginger Powder, Choco Ginger (Chocolate Ginger), Turmeric Latte (Turmeric Latte), and several other flavors, including dry raw.
A visit to Agradaya opened students' eyes that Indonesia has abundant natural wealth but lacks attention, so it tends to be ignored. It could be that the plants around us are considered priceless but in other places, it has high economic value. It can be known if one has broadened knowledge and networking.
Students, start looking around and find social problems. It is a starting point to initiate steps to empower the community by taking advantage of the strengths around them. Never be afraid to try because failure is part of the learning process to bring changes for a better insight. ***
