Alumnus of Faculty of Animal Science (FAS) UGM batch 2006, Andromeda Sindoro, as the CEO of Sweet Sundae Ice Cream, won the Best of the Best Challenger in the 10th Diplomat Success Challenge (DSC X) 2019. Andro successfully won the competition after defeating 12,500 proposals submitted to the committee.
“Thanks God, I won the competition because of the strategies I did in developing the business. After pursuing a business of 12 years, Sweet Sundae Ice Cream found an effective strategy, “Andro said when contacted by telephone on Friday (11/22).
At the beginning of his business, Andro sold ice cream by leaving them in the stalls. However, this method is difficult because sales decline at certain times, for example during the rainy season, fasting month, and holidays. In 2013, Andro changed its strategy towards horeca, namely hotels, restaurants and catering.
“This method has several advantages, the first is continuity. During the fasting month, many people visit hotels and restaurants to break their fast together. In the holiday season, restaurants and hotels are always filled with travelers,” explained Andro.
By doing so, Andro also doesn’t need to invest in a freezer because hotels, restaurants and catering already have their own freezers. Another strategy is to offer Sundae delivery. This service offers a “order today, deliver today” system. This method is very beneficial for hotels and restaurants because it prevents them from running out of stock due to late delivery.
In addition to the ability to develop accurate strategies, Andro revealed that personality plays an important role in the business world. He revealed that during the competition, he could answer all questions smoothly because he was accustomed to speaking in public. In fact, he had thrown a joke at the jury which actually showed his entrepreneur’s soul. This ability is very important because to convince investors, an entrepreneur must be confident in his business.
Because of his hard work, currently Sweet Sundae has supplied 15 caterers in Yogyakarta, 2 caterers in Jakarta, and 1 caterer in Bali. The number of horeca supplied is still limited because in 2016 Sweet Sundae has decreased which resulted in Andro not being able to expand his business too far.
“By winning this competition, I am grateful to be able to obtain greater capital. I am preparing animal housing in the area of ​​Hargobinangun, Sleman, Yogyakarta with a capacity of 500 dairy cows to boost milk production and develop an application called piaraa.id,” he said.
Because of his achievements, Andro was invited by the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki, some time ago. A platform called piaraa.id that was developed by Andro is considered to be able to catch up with Indonesia in milk production.
“Piaraa.id is a cow investment application which will be launched in February 2020. This application can develop the bases of international cooperatives in Indonesia and become an economic power base in the villages,” Andro said.
In December 2019, Andro had the opportunity to carry out a business plan presentation in front of President Jokowi. Andro is a representation of millennial entrepreneurs who have good ideals, plans and strategies.
Not only that, Andro’s achievements have also reached international level. At the end of last October, Andro became the first winner in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) o2o forum. He beat 7 participants from other countries, namely Russia, Peru, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Andro’s success in international competition is due to the existence of highly integrated technology in his business ranging from finance, warehouse stock, orders, cashiers, sales, marketing, absenteeism, and recruitment. Andro explained that the technology was able to expand its business which led to the absorption of more milk from local farmers at a good price. In the end, this supports the increase in milk production in Indonesia. (Nadia)