Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

Who loves hanging out at cafes or coffee shops to study or work from anywhere? Many people look for trendy cafes that offer a comfortable atmosphere while serving delicious drinks and food to set the mood for studying or working.

Did you know that the Faculty of Economics and Business at Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM) has three trendy cafes worth checking out? Kaphi, Nusantara Specialty Cafe, and Sowan Coffee stand out from most cafes or coffee shops. Want to know the details?

Student Entrepreneurship Pre-Incubator

These three cafes represent FEB UGM's commitment to encouraging creativity and innovation among its students to venture into entrepreneurship. These business units provide students unique learning opportunities, especially in entrepreneurship, through practical, hands-on experiences. These cafes serve as laboratories for FEB UGM students to develop entrepreneurial skills, ranging from marketing and HR to sustainable business management.

"FEB UGM is committed to providing its students with opportunities to practice entrepreneurship as an effort to actualize the knowledge they gain in class," explained Gumilang Aryo Sahadewo, S.E., M.A., Ph.D., Vice Dean for Research, Community Service, Cooperation, and Alumni at FEB UGM, on Thursday (July 18) at the FEB UGM Campus.

To realize this initiative, Gumilang explained that FEB UGM provides business management grants to students to offer unique and value-added products and services. In 2024, FEB UGM selected three business service products for business development funding: Kaphi, Nusantara Specialty Cafe, and Sowan Coffee.

"This year, the FEB UGM business management grant winners offer unique and innovative products. We are pleased to see the increasing competition to obtain grants and provide the best for the academic community and professional staff of FEB UGM," he explained.

Gumilang hopes this program can become a student-led business incubator for developing various innovations. The innovations are related to food and beverage products, management, marketing, and other developments.

"We hope this program can produce resilient and innovative young entrepreneurs," he said.

Gumilang explained that the development of the program to create young entrepreneurs aligns with the faculty's mission to nurture future leaders in economics and business to develop sustainability aspects. Through Kaphi, Sowan Coffee, and Nusantara Specialty Cafe, students can directly learn about sustainable business management and the importance of innovation in facing global challenges while positively impacting society and the environment.

Kaphi Offers Sustainable Business

Kaphi is a business in the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry led by Pasha Sultan Al-Thaf (Accounting 2021), Nadine Nabiilah Najwa (Accounting 2021), Bella Josephine (Management 2021), Ripatina Salsabila (Accounting 2021), and Arfhan Firdaus (Accounting 2021).

Uniquely, this cafe not only offers coffee and non-coffee drinks, pastries, and heavy meals. Kaphi also offers creative workshops involving local artisans and entrepreneurs to build brand awareness. Moreover, Kaphi promotes a sustainable business concept realized by reducing plastic waste by providing discounts to customers who bring tumblers. They also manage Kaphi's operational waste by separating waste according to its type and saving energy resources in cafe operations. With this business concept, Kaphi directly supports sustainable development goals related to responsible consumption and production.

Sowan Coffee Collaborates with MSMEs

Sowan Coffee is a cafe that was developed with the unique concept of being a "cultural gallery." The presence of this cafe serves as a bridge to preserve traditional culture through dishes with distinctive local nuances packaged in a modern form.

Moreover, Sowan Coffee collaborates with Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to present high-quality local dishes and traditional crafts. Interestingly, this cafe promotes a circular economy by processing coffee waste into perfumes and candles used as souvenirs. This progressive effort ensures sustainability in its operations as a form of commitment to positively impacting the environment.

This cafe, which combines warm traditional nuances with modern comfort, was developed by Krisna Cahyadi (Economics 2021), Gregorius Bintang Kusuma Indriyatno (Management 2021), Nadia Primatita (Accounting 2021), Nikodemus Hanwey Karyadi (Management 2021), Elbert Oktaliandro (Economics 2021), Dewita Nanda Prastiwi (Economics 2021), and Gerald Evan Aryasatya (Economics 2021).

Nusantara Specialty Cafe Embraces Local Farmers

Nusantara Specialty Cafe offers a unique coffee experience that reflects the richness of Indonesian culture. This cafe is a business unit developed by Agil Alya Fadhilah (Economics 2020), Azifatul Azifah (Economics 2020), Afan Husein Julian (Management 2020), Adam Favian Fawwaz (Management 2020), and M. Fu'ad Dhiya 'Ulhaq (Economics 2020).

This cafe combines the richness of Nusantara culture with coffee beans from various regions across Indonesia. At least 46 types of high-quality coffee are presented to delight coffee lovers. The dozens of kinds of coffee processed come from local farmers, cooperatives, and roasteries. At this cafe, customers can experience the sensation of brewing coffee with the "brewing on your table" concept. With this concept, baristas will brew coffee in front of customers while educating them about the brewing process and the coffee served. The consumer education effort continues; customers will receive a coffee character card when their coffee is served. This card contains information about flavor notes, coffee origin, process, processing, and details about the coffee.

Nusantara Specialty Cafe focuses on environmental issues, particularly reducing plastic waste. The step is to provide special promotions for customers who bring their drinking containers (tumblers).

So, aren't these cafes cool? For those of you who often have trouble finding a fun place to have coffee or a meal, visiting one of these cafes at FEB UGM is worth visiting. Come and enjoy a different experience!

Reportage: Kurnia Ekaptiningrum 

Sustainable Development Goals