On Monday, November 7th 2022, the Management Department of FEB Unsoed successfully held a public lecture on “Preparing Gen Z to Become Innovative Strategic Entrepreneur”. This is an extraordinary public lecture as the speaker is from our neighboring country, Malaysia. He is H.E. Dato’ Mohamad Rafie bin Ab Malek, an Executive Council of Negeri Sembilan State and also Chairman of Action Committee for Investment, Industrial, Entrepreneurship, Education and Human Capital.

Dato’ Mohamad Rafie elaborated technology development across generation, from Maturist to Generation Z. The technology development actually impacts life style and characters. People who were born and are living in certain generation tend to have different life style and characters compared to those from other generations. The term ‘Gen Z’ itself is referring to a group of people who were born between 1995 up to 2012. They are characterized as prioritizing security and stability in job while keep being dependent on technology.

Furthermore, Dato’ also explained concept of innovative, strategic, and entrepreneur associated with the current technology development. Dato’ formulated 10 (ten) characters that must be possessed by Gen Z to become successful entrepreneur. He also elaborated that education is absolutely necessary to enhance skill and thus raising the success of an entrepreneur. One paradigm emphasized by Dato’ is that human being should not be a ‘slave’ to technology. Instead, technology should be the ‘slave’ of human being to gain success.

Two hundred students participated on this bilingual public lecture enthusiastically. They asked speaker’s view on how to overcome difficulties on getting enough fund to start a business in creative industry and also on how to deal with competing with bigger competitors. Social media optimization especially with creative contents following current trends can be an answer for entrepreneurs to survive their start-up business.

Regarding regional cooperation, Dato’ also expressed his expectation that ASEAN countries can work together to enhance and facilitate entrepreneurial education. “No country should let its neighbors left behind.” By achieving this, ASEAN will be able to move towards an economic leading region and become a wealthy region in the world. This also inspires FEB Unsoed to explore more partnerships with educational institutions around the world, including Malaysia and other ASEAN countries. (by. Ronald Haryanto, B.Eng., S.H., M.B.A.)