Official Registration for Pertamina Business Idea Competition Closed, 2,719 Student Entrepreneurs from Aceh to Papua Participate in Pertamuda 2023 Selection

Jakarta, November 3, 2023 – The enthusiasm of students in building businesses is evident in the registration for the Pertamuda Business Idea Competition organized by PT Pertamina (Persero). By the registration deadline on November 2, 2023, a total of 2,719 students from various public and private universities in Indonesia participated in this competition, aiming to compete in two categories: Early Stage Startups and Energy Founders.

Pertamuda or Pertamina Muda - Seed & Scale is a competition organized by Pertamina to gather startup business ideas from students across various sectors that implement economic, social, and environmental pillars of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Rifky Rakhman Yusuf, Vice President of Stakeholder Relations & Management of PT Pertamina (Persero), explained that the 2023 Pertamuda is the third sequel. Different from previous years, this year's Pertamuda has an additional category, Energy Founder, as a step to encourage business ideas emergence in the energy field. This category complements the existing Early Stage Startups category.

"The applicants for Pertamuda in 2023 have increased compared to previous years. The high number of participants in this competition shows students’ strong interest in building startup businesses," said Rifky on Friday (3/11).

Rifky noted that this increasing trend is visible from year to year. In 2021, there were 2,025 participants, followed by 2,445 in 2022, and a rise to 2,719 participants in 2023.

For the Energy Founder category, students from 101 campuses participated, comprising 30 public and 14 private universities. Some registering campuses include Bina Nusantara University, UI, Unibraw, UII, UPI, ITB, ITS, UGM, Unair, Unpad, and the PLN Institute of Technology. Moreover, UGM, Ubaya, Hasanuddin University, Bengkulu University, Bahaudin Mudhary Madura University, Muhammadiyah Bone University, Astra Manufacturing Polytechnic, Sriwijaya State Polytechnic, Syiah Kuala University Aceh, among others.

Meanwhile, for the Early Stage Startups category, 247 universities across Indonesia participated.

Vice President of Corporate Communication of Pertamina, Fadjar Djoko Santoso, added that the Pertamuda Seed and Scale 2023 event is a form of Pertamina's commitment to support startup development in Indonesia. This event also reflects the synergy between industry players and universities to achieve sustainable innovation.

"The synergy between Pertamina and universities has been continuous, both through educational programs, support for facilities, human resource development, and various other collaborations. We believe in universities' importance as the next generation’s creators for the nation's development," said Fadjar.

The Pertamuda event series commenced with webinars and kick-off on August 22, 2023. With the closing of the registration process, the Pertamuda Competition is now entering the curation phase, where 20 participants will be selected for the Early Stage Startups category and 10 for the Energy Founder category.

Selected participants will proceed to a series of events, including Demo Day, a final pitch, and business matching with around 20 leading investors. Ultimately, this competition will produce the top three innovations from each category, earning prizes, which are mentoring funds totaling IDR 405 million.

"Pertamuda Workshop is a platform for communication between Pertamina and academic student circles, aiming to encourage sustainable energy innovations," explained Fadjar.

Pertamina, as a leading company in the energy transition, is committed to supporting the Net Zero Emission 2060 target by continuously promoting programs that directly impact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievement. All these efforts align with Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) implementation across all Pertamina's business lines and operations.**