Business Start-Ups Case Studies

Aji Nugroho is alumnus from Economics Faculty of Universitas Negeri Semarang, he entered the programme in 2006. He developed a coffee shop business called “Bersua Coffee”. Bersua means “To Meet” in English. He started the business in December 2018, the business located near UNNES campus as well. The coffee shop itself provides customer with various kinds of drinks and snacks, the most distinctive menu of the coffee shop is the Bersua Coffee, the coffee has palm sugar in it, so it resembles the taste of caramel and honey. Beside that, this coffee shop has many other coffees on the menu such as Tatap Muka Milk Coffee, Café Latte, Cappuccino, Vanilla Latte, Matcha Late, as well as various snacks

The business has a very competitive price range from Rp 15,000.00 to Rp 30,000.00, which is around € 0.90 – € 2.20. The coffee shop normally opens from 4 pm until 1 am. The  business has turnover around Rp. 8 million to Rp 10 million per month, approximately € 500- €625 per month, and it can generate € 300 – € 430 net-profit per month. This coffee shop has 2 part time employees, both of them UNNES students. For transaction convenience, the coffee uses several electronic payment facilities such as debit card, OVO, T-cash, etc. Customers are also able to order online via the Go-Food application on their mobile phones.

Aji learned his entrepreneurial skills from his father and started his business in 2011 after he graduated using his saving. He picked the coffee shop business due to the growing trend of café businesses in the region, specifically in Semarang. He specifically targets the younger customer and students alongside the mainstream customer segment.

Aji is seeking ways to expand his business. Particularly, he wishes to expand his premises to serve his growing customer base. As UNNES alumnus, he is looking to the Growth Hub at UNNES can assist alumni who would like to be an entrepreneur, for example in form of facilities at an affordable price as local rents tend to be expensive.

He very much appreciates the GITA project. Particularly the sharing sessions with other entrepreneurs are pertinent to developing and expanding the coffee shop business.  Furthermore, he is able to hold training events at the Growth Hub, such as barista training, and training on how to expand food and beverage businesses. Aji hopes that the existing curriculum will be modified to help students develop their entrepreneurial mindsets.