UNAIR NEWS – The Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), Erick Thohir, gave a public lecture on nationalism at Universitas Airlangga on Tuesday, October 12, 2021. A limited audience at the Garuda Mukti Hall attended the public lecture entitled “Prosperous Regions, Glorious Indonesia: Transformative Entrepreneurship to Foster Regions”.
In the public lecture on nationalism, the 51-year-old minister revealed that Indonesia has great potential in the form of markets and Human Resources (HR). This great potential must be utilized to successfully become the fifth largest country in the world in 2045, as predicted by several experts.
“We never realized that our strength is in HR. HR is our key to maintain sustainability and strength in the future,” said Erick.
Erick said that a third of Indonesia’s economy comes from SOEs. Therefore, in leading SOEs, Erick provides opportunities and trust for potential young people to lead some state-owned enterprises in Indonesia.
Some of the trusted leaders are less than 40 years old. Erick realized the potential of the young generation to bring about change. Young people, according to him, can move adaptively and have creative ideas. He also reflected on the fact that seven out of ten major companies in the world are led by young people. That potential is what he wants to optimize in Indonesia.
“Seven out of ten founders of big companies in the world are young people. Therefore, we have to give students the opportunity to be part of the growth and development of this nation,” he said. “Transformation will not be good without human capital transformation,” he added.
The public lecture on nationalism was attended by UNAIR leaders and several representatives of students. After giving the public lecture, Minister Erick held an interactive dialogue by answering various questions from the audience. (*)
Author: Binti Q. Masruroh
