BINUS University and Propan Raya Inaugurate Cooperation in Organizing Sales Competitions in Southeast Asia

A student competition in business sales will be held again this year. For the third time, the Southeast Asian Sales Competition (SEASAC) is here to share practices in terms of sales learning, especially business-to-business (B2B) sales. This capacity-building project for higher education, funded by Erasmus+ European Union, appointed BINUS University as the host. This event also invited many universities, especially from the Southeast Asia region.

BINUS University cooperated with PT Propan Raya as the main partner. On Friday (15 July), BINUS University and PT Propan Raya inaugurated the collaboration through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony at the BINUS @Senayan campus, Jakarta. As a company engaged in the manufacturing industry in the midst of technological and socio-cultural developments, PT Propan Raya understands that it is not enough for salespeople to only have natural talent, smart speech, and ‘street smarts’.

Furthermore, Dr. Ir. Yuwono Imanto, MBA, as the Director of PT Propan Raya stated, “A proverb says ‘No sales no business’! For this reason, supplying the world of sales through education with academic concepts related to the industrial world is very important to produce qualified salespeople and advance a company’s business.”

In agreement with this, BINUS University participated as a participant and host in the 3rd SEASAC event starting on 13 September 2022. The appointment of BINUS University as the host of SEASAC 2022 is inseparable from BINUS’ achievement, which received a 5-Star Rating from the QS World University Ranking 2021 and AACSB international accreditation.

“This aligns with the vision of BINUS Higher Education: fostering and empowering the society. This collaboration is expected to produce quality B2B sales professionals to fill market needs according to international standards,” said Dr. Rini Setiowati as Dean of the BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL Master Program.

SEASAC is a consortium of four European universities: Turku University of Applied Sciences and Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences from Finland; University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt from Austria; Edinburgh Napier University from Scotland; two Thailand universities, namely Mahasarakham University and Rangsit University; and five Indonesian universities, namely Sebelas Maret University (UNS), Parahyangan Catholic University, Putra Indonesia University “YPTK” Padang, Batam State Polytechnic, and BINUS University.

In addition to university partners, this consortium is joined by The SEAMEO Regional Open Learning Center (SEAMOLEC), which is under the auspices of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and the head of the Secretariat General of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) of the Republic of Indonesia. SEAMOLEC supports the implementation of SEASAC 2022 by assisting BINUS in the technical implementation of the competition, from planning and publication to implementation.

The SEAMOLEC Director, Dr. Wahyudi, on a separate occasion stated, “Competitions such as SEASAC 2022 align with the spirit of Merdeka Belajar that Kemenristekdikbud echoes. Students from various majors who have an interest in the world of sales can develop themselves through this international program. In addition, they will also gain more valuable insights as graduates with honed sales skills and will be better prepared to enter the work world.”

The SEASAC 2022 competition will be held in three stages. The first period starts on 13-15 September 2022 for the selection process before advancing to the semifinals and the final, which will be held on 12-13 October 2022. The SEASAC series of events will be held with an online and hybrid system for the highlight of the event, namely the final.

In the first stage, the participants who are students from various majors who are interested in the business field will receive case studies from certain companies and be asked to promote these products to consumers. Here, the participants must be able to identify the needs and try to attract consumers’ attention. Furthermore, the participants who will become marketers must be able to end the process with the approval of transactions from the consumers. The main goal is to attract consumers and make them want to buy the products offered.

Besides holding a sales competition, SEASAC will also hold a conference at the event’s pinnacle. The conference will be filled with knowledge sharing about sales trends widely used in the global market. Students from various universities will also have the opportunity to practice the role of professional B2B salespeople based on real case studies from certain companies. This can be a good opportunity to practice marketing products and dealing with customers from various backgrounds.

In addition to PT Propan Raya as the main partner, BINUS collaborates with several other local companies, such as Bank Jago, PT Star Chemical, and PT Interniaga Perkasa in this international competition. PT Propan Raya, part of the business world, is proud to support the SEASAC 2022 event, which is extraordinary because it can collaborate with several universities from within and outside the country, involve the industrial world, and get support from the government.

“Hopefully, through this activity, PT Propan Raya can make a real contribution to the success of the 3rd SEASAC held by BINUS University to produce reliable salespeople for the advancement of the business world in Indonesia,” said Dr. Ir. Yuwono Imanto, MBA.

Dr. Rini Setiowati added, “From an academic point of view, collaboration with industries also provides opportunities for teachers to gain knowledge to form talented B2B sales professionals for the advancement of Indonesia in the future.”

The SEASAC 2022 event is open for participants of all parties, whether they want to participate as competition participants, sponsors, or others. More information about The Southeast Asian Sales Competition (SEASAC) 2022 can be found at: https://bit.ly/SEASAC2022register. **(CMC)