The story of Haru, an UM Surabaya Alumni, Starting a Business by Selling Motorbikes to Having Many Health Laboratories in Indonesia

Lacking, being weak but never giving up and being persistent in changing lives are perhaps the right words to describe the life struggle of Chief Director Parahita M. Sulthon Amien.

The man who is currently 65 years old is an alumnus of the first batch of UM Surabaya who is currently the owner of the Parahita Diagnostic Center. A leading clinical laboratory based in Surabaya with branches in all major cities in Indonesia and has 900 employees.

Coming from a family with a deprived economy, Sulthon is determined to be able to get a better education. Born as the last child of 4 brothers, Sulthon was fortunate to be financed by his siblings up to SMAA (High School of Economics) who at that time studied economics.

When he graduated from SMAA, Sulthon had studied at Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor, Ponorogo. Islamic boarding schools that apply high discipline and mastery of foreign languages (Arabic and English). But at the cottage, he did not finish until graduation.

"When I was at the cottage, my mind was disturbed since I received news that my mother was seriously ill, while at the cottage I was often sick, so I finally decided to go home," Sulthon said Wednesday (14/12/22)

Two months after returning home his mother died, after that, he lived with his father because 3 of his brothers were married. Since then she is used to doing housework, from cooking to washing.

With his SMEA diploma, Sulthon tried to find work and applied for dozens of jobs, but luck was not on his side.

"At that time the cause was not accepted because the health test results were not prime, cavities and so on," he explained, laughing.

Sulthon Amien first got a job at the Muhammadiyah Middle School in Sidoarjo. His position as Administrative staff (TU). He takes his work seriously, he collects rupiah after rupiah so that he can realize his desire to pursue higher education. Sulthon studied at the Muhammadiyah Surabaya Teachers' Training College which is now the Muhammadiyah University of Surabaya (UM Surabaya) majoring in Pancasila Moral Education (PMP)

"At that time I studied in the afternoon, worked as a TU in the morning, at night I slept at school, sometimes on a mat, sometimes on a table," recalls Sulthon.

Starting a Business by Selling Motorcycles

After graduating from his Bachelor's degree, he decided to live in Surabaya and teach at the Kapasan Muhammadiyah High School and the Pucang Muhammadiyah High School. He did this activity until he married Enny Soetji Indriastuti.

According to his statement, he has no business background or aspirations to become an entrepreneur. However, he is grateful to be married to his wife as a medical analyst alumnus. Enny's family is also not from a rich family. Her family only had a grocery shop, so Enny had been introduced to the science of buying and selling since she was little.

In 1987 a friend of his who was the director of the clinic came to his house in the narrow alley of Ploso Bogen, Tambaksari, Surabaya, to study the Koran after he got into trouble from the business he was running. After talking, Sulthon's wife Enny seized the opportunity and invited her friend to set up a clinical laboratory outside the city of Surabaya.

“At that time I was surprised, because we had no capital at all. After going through a lot of deliberations with my wife selling the motorbike. I went to teach by minibus,” he explained.

Not only selling motorcycles, Sulthon and his wife also borrowed from their relatives and borrowed from their in-laws. After the money was collected, he opened a clinical laboratory in Malang.

Unexpectedly, the business he managed began to grow and become known, even after five months of opening a laboratory in Malang, 5 months later he managed to open a new branch in Surabaya.

According to him, Parahita means mutual benefit and mutual benefit to one another. With the hope that Parahita will always provide maximum service to its service users.

3 Things that Become Principles when Doing Business

According to him, in running the business Sulthon has 3 views. First, highly dedicated to what is being carried out. The dedication is in the form of commitment, love to do a good job.

Both have determination. It means the will to achieve goals, work hard, have faith and never give up.

Third, think differently from other people. Successful people use ways or work systems that are different from other people in general.

Currently in the midst of his growing business, Sulthon Amien has never ruled out philanthropy. According to him again, calculating business results is not like mathematics, there are many influencing factors.

"A successful business is a business that finds a balance between economic, social and environmental responsibilities," concluded Sulthon who is also the Founder of the Thousand Smiles Foundation.