Muhammadiyah University (Unismuh) of Makassar has taken a strategic step in strengthening the student entrepreneurship ecosystem by exploring a collaboration with the Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP) under the Ministry of Finance. This step was realized through the active participation of Unismuh's academic community in an online audience regarding 'The Plantationpreneurs Festival 2026' program on Monday, July 13, 2026.
The program, titled “Planting Innovation, Nurturing Young Entrepreneurs for the Future,” serves as a strategic platform for universities to convert student research results into highly marketable business products. The main focus of this program targets the utilization of national leading commodities such as coconut, palm oil, and cocoa as main or blended raw materials in product innovation.
Representative of the Directorate of Law and Cooperation of BPDP, Fery Taryana, explained that his agency will provide comprehensive mentoring for students, ranging from business proposal formulation to the incubation process. This aims to ensure that business ideas originating from the campus environment do not merely remain on paper, but possess qualified market competitiveness through the strengthening of permits, marketing, and business accountability.
The Unismuh Makassar delegation led by Vice Rector I, Prof. Andi Sukri Syamsuri, alongside the Head of LP3M, Dr. Muh. Arief Muhsin, expressed enthusiasm for this program. In technical discussions, Unismuh explored the potential integration of local commodities such as candlenut with the main raw materials of the program, which was welcomed by BPDP as a form of value-added product innovation creativity.
This series of programs will culminate in offline festivals across major cities, including Makassar, scheduled for late August 2026. For Unismuh, involvement in this initiative is a realization of the campus's commitment to supporting downstream research while producing resilient young entrepreneurs to support the national plantation sector.
