Between the 16th and 23rd of March 2025, Universitas Ciputra Surabaya partnered with Ngee Ann Polytechnic Singapore to produce the Southeast Asia Immersion Leadership Programme (SAIL), with the theme “Pioneering Sustainable Solutions for Urban Challenges in Southeast Asia”. Universitas Ciputra International Community (UCIC) provided committee members to oversee and supervise the program’s events and proceedings, aided by Universitas Ciputra’s Networking and Partnership department (UC NNP).
The program’s main purpose was to facilitate an innovative and solutive collaboration between students from Universitas Ciputra’s Food Technology Program (FTP), International Business Management (IBM), and Visual Communication Design (VCD) majors with students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Together, they cooperated and workshopped green solutions for food waste management in major cities such as Surabaya, elevating their leadership and problem-solving skills for the future.
The students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic arrived in Surabaya on March 16th to stay at Hotel Whiz, but it wasn’t until the 17th that their activities would truly kick off with a field trip to both Hokky Supermarket in Citraland and Pasar Modern at Puncak Permai. At both locales, they observed the food products and learned about how both Hokky and Pasar Modern currently managed their food waste.
Once they were done, they traveled to Universitas Ciputra for a proper introduction to the program. UC hosted a welcome lunch for them, and it was an opportunity for them to both celebrate their safe arrival in Surabaya and for the committee to thank them for their participation in SAIL. To cap off the day, they participated in a lengthy workshop and team discussion regarding Hackathon and networking before returning to their accommodations.
By comparison, Tuesday was relatively light, and it was mostly a day to gather knowledge and form a basis for the innovations that the UC and Ngee Ann students would be collaborating on together. It began with a SAIL spotlight “fireside chat”, where various experts on food waste, such as a representative from Ecoton, and a professor from FTP, had the opportunity to share about their food waste experience with the Ngee Ann students. This was followed by a discussion on food waste problem statements at UC to finally kick off the students’ ideation on their respective sustainable solutions.
The third day was quite exploratory, as the UC and Ngee Ann students were instructed to gather community feedback regarding food waste from different communities throughout Citraland. Once they returned to UC and had their lunch, they attended a prototyping workshop for their food waste solutions, ideating further and with more context utilizing the feedback they had just gathered. For the common people, sustainability often seems distant and futuristic, and this was a way for the food waste solutions to remain grounded firmly in the concerns of everyday citizens.
The fourth day was highly informative for the students, providing them some perspective on the sustainable food waste solutions that exist currently. Both the UC and Ngee Ann students went on a field trip to the Benowo Landfill (TPA), managed by PT Sumber Organik as the first private waste-to-energy service in Surabaya. Speakers guided them through a tour of the landfill and explained the gassification systems, methane collection mechanisms, and more. It would all be helpful knowledge once the students returned to UC to further iterate on their own food waste solutions, capping off the day.
On Friday, the Ngee Ann students finally presented their food waste solutions in the form of a poster made up of marker art and sticky notes. A panel of judges evaluated the realism and feasibility of each solution, particularly with attention to current market conditions and policy. Of course, the competition was tense. To cool off afterwards, the Ngee Ann students recreationally collaborated with UC’s Culinary Business major to produce ta’jil in the form of banana soup, or kore. They distributed the banana soup amongst themselves, the committee members, and near the Citraland mosque to celebrate the upcoming Eid Mubarak in a show of religious solidarity between Singaporean culture and Indonesian tradition.
On the Ngee Ann students’ final day in Surabaya, they participated in another host of recreational activities. They began in the morning with a batik workshop, where they made their own patterns freely to immerse themselves even deeper in Indonesia’s roots and identity. They also attended a coffee-tasting session–in collaboration with Expat Roasters–so they could better appreciate a cup of joe. Finally, so that their program could go out with a fun bang, the Ngee Ann students went on a city tour: first to the Surabaya Submarine Monument (Monkasel) and then all across the historic Old Town (Kota Lama) to observe the colonial history of Indonesia through the lens of long-abandoned technology and antiquated Dutch architecture.
On Sunday, the Singaporeans flew back to their home, saying goodbye to their colorful week in Surabaya. Their experiences here, immersed in both visions of a greener Earth and a more beautiful Indonesia, has surely taught them to be innovators and visionaries that will stir the world in the future. We hope that they return to Singapore not just with stories, but ideas that will one day grow into genuine sustainable revolutions.