Subud Enterprise Services
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Subud Enterprise Services (S.E.S.) is one of the "wings" of the spiritual organization Subud. It is not an independent association, but a department controlled by the World Subud Association. Its purpose is to assist Subud practitioners in their entrepreneurial activities.
Subud's founder, Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo (called Bapak) encouraged Subud followers to develop "enterprises" (Indonesian: usaha, "efforts"). This was partly to demonstrate that Subud has practical advantages, and partly out of the hope that more Subud practitioners would have the means to support Subud financially and/or a work situation that would allow travel on behalf of Subud.
Most such enterprises are created and sustained solely through the initiative of individual Subud practitioners. The role of the SES has been rather limited, and consists mainly of facilitating networking opportunities.
Understandably, not all such ventures have resulted in universal satisfaction. To what extent Subud--as an organization, or as a subculture--is to blame for various disappointments and irregularities, is very much a subject of dispute. One cautionary anecdotal account may be found below. (In a satirical glossary, its author translates "Let's start an enterprise" as "I have a flaky business plan, how much are you in for?")
World Subud Association Chairlady, Osanna Vaughn, describes the general situation as follows (in the "Discussion" section of the main Subud entry):
- Regarding large enterprises that have caused members distress, a lot has been learned from the past and gradually being applied to the present; however, this really only applies to the very large enterprises which, being efforts to work together on a large scale and considering all those multi-cultural aspects, would have been extremely difficult to pull off at a first go. Plus, the question of penury only applies, as far as I know, to a couple. Others, while currently being in difficulties (largely due to economical factors outside the influence of the entrepreneurs themselves), have earned many investors very good returns. As for smaller enterprises there have been countless success stories. In fact possibly above average numbers of successes. Here in Germany again, the members apparently sat down and brain-stormed coming up with 10 or so enterprise ideas. Apparently about 60% of them were carried forward and became successful: Rofin Sinar, the Cadera Bakery, Erler & Pless, the Parkhotel in Wolfsbug, just to mention a few. So, typically, as with the press, the negative stories are the popular ones.
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