Unhas Faculty of Engineering Holds Outreach Event on Enhancing the Competitiveness of Information Technology-Based Products
The Student Affairs Office of the Faculty of Engineering at Hasanuddin University successfully held a community service program themed “Empowering MSMEs and Enhancing the Competitiveness of Local Products Through Information Technology” in Kunjung Mae Village and Bontolona Village, Takalar Regency, South Sulawesi. The program took place from June 1 to 24, 2022, beginning with a site survey and concluding with an evaluation of the program’s implementation.
This village development program, which involved faculty and students from the Faculty of Engineering at Hasanuddin University, aimed to provide training and guidance to the community to further increase the market value of agricultural products—such as rice and vegetables—covering everything from packaging to IT-based marketing.
The event opened with remarks from Dr. Ir. Rustan Tarakka, ST., MT., Vice Dean for Student Affairs, Alumni, and Partnerships at the Unhas Faculty of Engineering. In his remarks, he stated that the program serves as a platform for faculty and students to apply their academic disciplines in daily life while developing local products through IT and empowering SMEs that leverage Industry 4.0 and are ready to embrace Industry 5.0.
The event also featured a guest speaker from the industry, Muhammad Arqam MD, who was also the winner of the Ministry of Cooperatives’ 2012 Young Entrepreneur Award. Arqam shared his experiences in enhancing product innovation and expanding marketing reach. These efforts are necessary to increase the market value of SMEs themselves, particularly to enable them to compete with other products that are increasingly flooding industrial centers across Indonesia.
On this occasion, Arqam—who also serves as Director of Support Systems at Gercepta (Gerak Cepat Takalar)—promoted this local startup, which aims to provide capacity-building support to rural communities. Gercepta assists the residents of Kunjung Mae Village by providing guidance, facilitating business scaling, digitizing products, and marketing SME products to help them penetrate modern retail markets.
“Gercepta is expected to become a partner of the Unhas Faculty of Engineering that can continue to support the community of Kunjung Mae Village to ensure the sustainability of this program,” added Dr. Fakhruddin, who also served as chair of the event’s organizing committee.
Separately, the Dean of the Unhas Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Dr. Eng. Ir. Muh. Isran Ramli, ST., MT., warmly welcomed this village development initiative. This activity is one of the concrete efforts by the Faculty of Engineering at Hasanuddin University to fulfill one of the three pillars of higher education: community service. Furthermore, this activity supports the achievement of the Faculty of Engineering’s Key Performance Indicators regarding the number of faculty members and students involved in community service activities.