UK Alumni Award 2008

The UK Alumni Awards is the first awards ceremony to recognize and reward outstanding personal achievements in the workplace and society made by our UK Alumni. The awards are presented to those UK Alumni who in the judges' eyes have demonstrated their commitment and positive contribution in Indonesia in key areas such as Education, Social Entrepreneurship, Environment, Business and Journalism.

The award for business seeks to recognize alumni who have contributed to the development of business and professional work in Indonesia. It goes to Ridwan Zachrie who currently holds the post of Director Human Resources Compliance and Risk at Recapital Investment Bank. Over the last five years, he dedicated himself to the campaign to promote good corporate governance in Indonesia. Ridwan is also active in speaking in many forums and writing on this topic to bring about a better understanding of the importance of the implementation of GCG within the high scale up to small medium enterprises corporation in Indonesia. Recently, Ridwan was selected as Indonesian winner delegate for this year's Asia 21 Young Leader Summit held in Tokyo on November 14-16, 2008. He was awarded a British Chevening Award in 1996 to pursue MSc in Economic History from London School of Economics and Political Science.

The award for social entrepreneur seeks to recognize alumni who have contributed to the development of implementing business practices in the community – bringing both positive social and economic change to the community as well as inspirations to others. It goes to Alexander Sriewijono who is an inspiring public speaker and consultant for people development. He is well known for his TV show. “Friends ‘n the City” which is aired on O Channel. In 2005, Alexander set up “Daily Meaning”, a People Development Consultant empowering more than 20,000 people to take ownership of their careers by proactively improving their employability. He graduated in 2005 from University of Westminster with an MA in Human Resources Management under British Chevening Award.

The award for education seeks to recognize alumni who have demonstrated contributions to the development of education at any level in Indonesia. This can include work of an individual in a professional or volunteer capacity that has impacted on the development of national education. It goes to Afifa Syamsun Zulfikar, who is the Director of Centre of Language Studies, University of Pesantren Tinggi Darul ‘Ulum, Jombang East Java. She was directly involved in the establishment of Darul ‘Ulum Plus primary school in 2000 and has managed the school since then. Now, the school has been highly accredited by the government. Moreover, she actively participates in improving the quality of National Plus School Programme for one of Senior Secondary Schools at Darul ‘Ulum and established the Centre of Language Studies at UNIPDU University.

Today, Pondok Pesantren Darul ‘Ulum has become one of the biggest and well-reputed Islamic institutions in East Java, with 14 schools and a university with over 6,000 students and around 700 teachers, lecturers and staff. She has become an inspiring woman and an inspiring educator at her pesantren community. She is now also a Master Trainer of English Language Training for Islamic School (ELTIS) for Learning Assistance Program for Islamic Schools (LAPIS) project. She gained MSc in Leadership and Management in Education from Sheffield Hallam University under British Chevening Award in 2003.

The award for environment seeks to recognize alumni with creative ideas for developing climate solutions in a range of different areas including community development, business, education, the government and media. It goes to Laksmi Dhewanthi, who is working as Assistant Deputy Minister for Incentive and Environmental Fund, Ministry of Environment. She has been consistently developing financial assistance and incentive schemes for environmental management in Indonesia, especially to assist Micro, Small and Medium scale Enterprises (MSMEs) for bettering their environmental performance. Her current responsibilities include the development of incentive systems, economic instruments with alternative funds for environmental management programs and assessment of environment-trade related issues. Prior to her current position, she has also been appointed head of various units within the Ministry and has been in charge of environmental policies and programs in various fields, among others, environmental impact assessment, cleaner technology and environmental standardization. Laksmi obtained an MA in Environment and Development Policy in 1998 from University of Sussex.

The award for journalism seeks to recognize alumni achievements in journalism and media, demonstrated through a devotion to informing the public on important issues through on-the-ground reporting while at the same time embracing the highest ethical and professional standards. It goes to Arief Suditomo, who is the Chief Editor of RCTI, one of the most influential media groups in Indonesia. Before joining RCTI, he was a Senior Anchor and News Producer at SCTV. He is currently involved in a new project SUNTV, where he is assigned as its Programming and Production Director. Under his leadership, the news programme “Seputar Indonesia” successfully became the Most Favourite News Program in Panasonic Award 2007. Arief graduated in 2000 from University of Westminster obtaining an MA in Media & Communication.