Muhammad Fawwaz Syarif: Building Your Work Experience by Competing
This article is written for SICOMAS publication. SICOMAS stands for SISTEM Competition Material Supplies where you can find competition proposals and materials from those who already experienced in the corresponding fields. Fawwaz shared some of his business plan competition proposals, which you can find here: https://s.id/SICOMAS
Muhammad Fawwaz Syarif or better known as Fawwaz is a former Information System student at University of Indonesia who’ve just obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2020. Not only is he an exceptional student graduating with a GPA above 3.51 he also managed to win various business plan competitions throughout his years. This article will cover how Fawwaz approaches every of his business plan competitions, from selecting teams to tips on finding the correct idea.
Why Business Plan Competition?
Fawwaz knew that the faculty of computer science is filled with people who have a head start in the field of programming and mathematics. Not only that there’s already too many of his friends in the faculty that are competing in that field, making the competition a lot more difficult. Knowing that Fawwaz took a different path. He chose the business side of the IT industry since most of the people in the faculty have not yet experienced what it means to create a business in their high school days, every competitor that Fawwaz will face will more or less have the same start and equal amount of chances.
Most of the people Fawwaz sees always thinks that internship is the most important thing when interviewing for a job. But Fawwaz believes that depending on the competition and the internship, both of them are equal. The journey and the process of the competition can be the same or more taxing than a certain project you have worked on during the internship.
Of course, he didn’t manage to win every competition that he went to. That’s why he participates in every competition that he can. After building up experience and racking up achievements, he manages to accomplish 4 things, two of them by becoming a Finalist at GEMASTIK 11 Business IT Development competition and taking the GOLD MEDAL for the same field of competition in GEMASTIK 12.
What to consider when picking teammates
First thing first, you will need the correct team, since all of the business plan and business case competition you can see is team competition, not individual. For Fawwaz it’s better for his team to consist of his friends that can complement each other’s skill set. His main reasoning being that people that are close to you will be more understanding in any kind of situation. Whether you want to win the competition seriously or you just want to join as a side activity, they won’t create any unnecessary drama. You also can find a teammate that’s not close to you, but you must do a clear background check on his/her seriousness, skill set and professionality.
Creating Ideas and additional tips
How do you even create the correct idea to win a business plan competition? Fawwaz believes there’s two ways to find an idea for a business plan competition. The first one would be to find problems that people close to you have. From that you can then try to create a business that can solve those exact problems. But at this point of age, almost all businesses have been digitized. That’s why we can go with the second approach, which is to try applying to businesses that came outside of Indonesia in Indonesia. While the first one would be the ideal approach, the second approach is a lot more realistic.
Every competition has its own set of components that are going to be assessed. For every competition Fawwaz made sure that his business plan contained more than what the rules wanted you to make. For example, you can start your business with an MVP (Minimum Viable Products) even before the competition starts. There’s nothing wrong with giving something more since it will usually help you in validating the fact that the business will be successful.
Closing Remarks
Since we’re currently at the end of the article let’s see what Fawwaz has to say for you readers out there that are still struggling on thinking whether to take the chance to compete.
“You’re still in university, it might be your final chance to ever experience these things because there won’t be any competitions like this anymore after you graduated. The good thing about university competition is that there’s nothing wrong with failing, after all that’s what competition is for, looking for experience.”
- Muhammad Fawwaz Syarif 2021
Better not waste your time and don’t miss a window while there’s a lot of competitions that’s going to be held, the time you spent in university won’t be that long. Don’t be afraid of failing because it’s just a part of the process, the experience you gain will be the only thing that will be useful in the real stage. So go out there and get yourself some medals, good luck!
