“Knowing Your Capabilities, Key to What You will Become”

Born in Pagaralam, South Sumatera, Ongki Olan Putra grew up as the first-born child of three siblings in the family. “My family owns and manages a coffee plantation there. After my father passed away, my mother continues to run the family plantation business,” told the alumnus of Sumatera Selatan Public High School.

In 2015, Ongki made up his mind to further his education at Sampoerna University. “I enrolled in the university and was majoring in Banking and Finance, and Business Administration,” he said. Ongki was taking Double Degree Program which was made possible thanks to the collaboration between Oregon State University (OSU) and Sampoerna University at the time. The program allowed him to earn an accredited U.S. bachelor’s degree from OSU and a Sarjana (Strata 1) degree from Sampoerna University. These two degrees have allowed him to grab more opportunities out there, both nationwide or worldwide.

While he was a university student, Ongki began his career in 2016 as a student ambassador of Sampoerna University. Subsequently in 2017 Ongki was appointed as head of team leader, in charge of completing a number of tasks. “The company I was working for was an edu-tech startup. Since September 2019, I have begun to work as part of Student Recruitment of Sampoerna University,” he stated.

He credited Sampoerna University for his success. “I’m grateful and excited to be part of Sampoerna University. As a student back then, I learned new things here and obtained a lot of unwavering support from the university in many ways, from facilities to U.S. curriculum. I acquired soft and hard skills, too,” he said

What facilities that helped Ongki most while studying? He explained,” I’d found all of the campus facilities helpful, especially the awesome and well-maintained library which houses a vast array of books, both physical books and e-books. Besides that, the computer lab is always accessible, enabling me to get any tasks done.”

Considering the fact that nowadays students cannot survive the job market without proper soft skills and adequate hands-on experience, Ongki also mentioned that he felt lucky as Sampoerna University facilitated his internship. “The university through its Student Affairs unit encourages me to experience work life in the internship period. Not only did they encourage me to do an internship at the right company, but they also helped me find out job opportunities that are deemed most relevant to my passion and preferred field.”

Ongki has found subjects that he took at Sampoerna University really useful to help him succeed at work. He is particularly thankful for Public Speaking and Communication class that he attended back then. As a student recruiter, he has to be speaking in public a lot and this skill is very much relevant to his current career.

Having a dream to be an entrepreneur in the agriculture industry, Ongki strives to achieve his goal. “I hope I can maximize my investment returns, then I can bootstrap my own business,” Ongki said.

Asked about why he can get to the point, Ongki advised that he does what he loves and is passionate about, then identify what he needs. “Because knowing your capabilities is the key to what you will become in the future,” he said. (*/)