UPH Alumni Professional Network: Opportunity and Challenge in ASEAN Economic Community 2015

There are several aspects of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015 that can be improved and adjusted. One issue is the readiness of the workforce through the development of capabilities and skills of workers. AEC is expected to offer greater opportunities, for Indonesia?s workforce in particular, to work in the other members? countries of ASEAN, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) has been taking part by preparing alumni to welcome MEA 2015 through the UPH Alumni Professional Network, a rendezvous point for UPH alumni professionals who are working in various industries. This event was the first ever program organized by UPH Alumni Center to improve the shared learning between UPH and its alumni as well as among UPH alumni themselves. Prior to this, the UPH Alumni Center had held an Alumni Business Network for shared learning among UPH alumni who are entrepreneurs.

The theme of this event was ?Opportunity and Challenges in ASEAN Economic Community?, held on Friday, 10 April 2015, at SL Lounge, Thamrin, and was attended by 40 alumni.

Serving as keynote speaker was Suwandy Lee, a Senior Vice President at a well-known international bank, who is also a Management alumnus from cohort 2003. Ryo Limijaya, International Relations alumnus, cohort 2008, served as moderator.

Suwandy Lee was delivering presentation with the topic of AEC

According to Suwandy, the emergence of AEC will open the intra-ASEAN market to its members, starting with the alleviation of investment restriction, trade tariffs for both goods and services, and the cutback of labor movement barriers. By implementing AEC, the international community will take notice of ASEAN as an economic unity that could be aligned with other economic superpowers such as the United States of America, China, and the European Union. However, the fact is that AEC is still facing big challenges from diversified ethnics and languages, poor governance of ASEAN countries, corruption, and an economic disparity between ASEAN members that is much larger than the disparity among European Union (EU) members.

Suwandy added, ?Ready or not, AEC is just around the corner and with approximately 8 months of preparation, we will see whether the impact of AEC could embody the coveted goal of one vision, one community.?

The topic of AEC received good feedback through the Question and Answer session from the alumni who attended the event. They mostly asked about AEC and its impact on their business or professional jobs.

Nursari Lugito, Director of Alumni &                        Corporate Relations UPH

Nursari Lugito, the Director of Alumni and Corporate Relations UPH expressed that, ?I am delighted to hear that lots of alumni successfully found partners to build their business with during this networking event.? She hopes that this event will continue to create information, networking, and opportunities for the UPH alumni. In the future, the Alumni Center will keep searching for interesting topics as well as unique and attractive locations for said events. (el)

Followings are the testimonies from the alumni:

This gathering could fulfill my desire to meet with old friends. The networking could also be built. The interesting topic also could give additions to my knowledge. Moreover, I suggest that the alumni networking should be strengthened so it would be much better to hold an Alumni Activist Gathering, a special gathering event for UPH activists who were former member of BEM, MPM, etc. So, it will be easier to gather the alumni if the interest is narrower. Edward Pardomuan – Industrial Engineering 2005 Brand Operation Manager NUTRIFOOD

We could find out the recent updates among the alumni. However, the alumni should be more engaged and also the events to be routinely held with different topics. Besides UPH alumni, there should be guest stars who are experts and well-known in certain field. It is also good to start up a project that involves alumni like charity or business incubation for a start-up funding.? Marvin Joseph Kolibonso ? Industrial Engineering 2002 Distibution Centre Manager P&G

Some alumni took a group photo with Alumni Center team & Budi Legowo

Door price for selected alumni who won a lucky draw

Alumni networking while enjoying dinner set by SL Lounge, Thamrin

Alumni was chatting and building up relations with others