Three Economics students of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) achieved the second runner up of Finance Inclusion Competition (KOINKU) 2015 for Financial Services Authority (OJK). The students were M. Rizal Abdurrahman, Prasetyo Ardi N., and Ecky Imamul M. who are also the members of Group of Economics Students for Future Indonesia Development (GESFID).
There were three categories of KOINKU, namely Academics for students of D3, S1, S2, and S3, General, and Financial Services Business People (PUJK). KOINKU was call for paper opened since November. Eleven teams of all categories were selected and were invited to Jakarta to present in OJK building on 17-18 December.
“Five of the eleven teams were from the category of Academics. The five teams were from UI, ITS, UMY, UGM, and IPB. UMY was the only private university passing to final,” Prasetyo informed in an interview on Tuesday (29/12) at Public Relations and Protocol office of UMY. He told that each team presented for 15 minutes.
He presented a paper entitled ‘Saku Difabel’ standing for ‘Sahabat Inklusi Keuangan untuk Kalangan Difabel’ (Financial Inclusion Friends for the Disabled). Chief of UMY’s team, Rizal, explained that ‘Saku Difable’ is counseling and educating financial services for the disabled.
“Inclusion is for all people, but government is lack of concern of financial services for the disabled,” Rizal said. He inserted that the disabled access in financial services and products should become the focus.
The team also presented that there are agents performing counseling and education for the disabled. The agents assist the disabled to know more financial services and products in Indonesia. “It is expected that the agents can contribute to helping them,” Prasetyo conveyed.
The GESFID team was invited to come to Jakarta on Tuesday (22/12) to achieve a reward. The team obtained the second runner up for Academics, while the winner was ITS and the first runner up was UI. The team also gained prize from OJK.
“Joining the competition, we could apply theories that we got at class, and we could contribute to development of Indonesia government,” Rizal told. He wished that the achievement could inspire other students of UMY to be more active to make scientific writing and to conduct research.
