Me and Syngenta (and My 3X Broken Heart)

"Syngenta is a part of my biggest dream". I still remember the moment when I said this statement to one of Technical Scientist in Syngenta US. I said it with a lot of faith and hope. I said this word when I have interview with that technical scientist which is become my role model for my career in horticulture area. For me, Syngenta is so special. It's a dream company for me. I heard about Syngenta for the first time when I was in College. At that time I just knew that Syngenta only produce the pesticide, I didn't know that this company is so so so big. Syngenta has a lot of branch over the world, and the center of this company is located in Basel, Switzerland.

There are a lot of part of Syngenta, some part is produce the pesticide, some produce the breeding plants. Recently, I know that my host company for my internship (Metrolina Greenhouses) has a good relationship and cooperation with Syngenta. Metrolina buy the pesticide and some cutting plants, especially mum (I think Syngenta is the only company who supply the mum cutting for Metrolina Production). Metrolina also has a secret garden. In this secret garden, each company growth their new plant. The best plant from that trial in Secret Garden will be bought by Metrolina for the production. I saw that Syngenta has their own place too in the Secret Garden. Another company which is a part of Secret Garden are Floranova, Dummen Orange, Sakata Seed, Ball, and..... (I forgot the rest of the company name).

Syngenta not only produce the ornamental plant and flower, they also produce 8 key point of food supply (Wheat, Soybean, Rice,

The best part of my time when I dreaming about Syngenta was when I have my conference in Columbus. The conference was held by Syngenta US and my sponsor program, The Ohio Program. This is really cool discussion. At that time, we made a couple of group, in one group we had 5 Intern (Me-Indonesia, Clementine-French, Hanna-Germany, Fajar-Indonesia, and Marcus-Brazil) from Ohio Program and 5 executive employee from Syngenta (I remember there are 2 people from Basel-Switzerland, 1 person from French, 1 from Greensboro, and 1 more from Brazil). When we have the discussion, mostly we talked about the horticulture issue in the present and what is the trend of horticulture issue in the future. After the discussion finish, I tried to reach Mr. Jeff which is the CEO of Syngenta Lawn and Garden of Switzerland. It is really nice to have a discussion with the President of Syngenta. He gave me some advice about the leadership and how to prepare ourself to be a leader in the future.

At this part, I will share my 3x broken hearted with Syngenta. This is not in a bad condition or a kind of complaint, this is only about my feeling and and my luck which is still not in my side during this time. My first broken heart was when I was waiting for the placement from The Ohio Program. At that time, Mr. Gerardo, which is the Coordinator of Intern in Syngenta sent email to me and told me that there is an internship program where I can join the program and have internship in USA. I had misunderstanding at that time, I thought that I will have my placement for my internship in Syngenta Flower USA, but It's not. I asked to Greg. the Coordinator of The Ohio Program about the process and everything, and he said It kind of impossible to have internship in Syngenta at that time. They already tried to put intern in Syngenta since a few years ago, but It still not work. I was really sad at that time, but I didn't lose my hope. A few weeks after that, I get my placement in Metrolina Greenhouses, which is the big costumer for Syngenta in USA. Metrolina and Syngenta has really good internship, during my internship, I taking care some of test plant from Syngenta Flower, Dummen Orange, Sakata, Floranova, and some other breeding company too. My second broken heart was when I had a lot of problem in my host placement (Actually I'm not the one who make the problem, but another intern was broke the car and she didn't admit it to the company and company getting mad with us and they made many rules after that which is made us more desperate, this is totally not fair, the one who broke the car and made another trouble didn't get the punishment, but they punish the whole intern even we didn't make the troubles, at this case, I really disappointed with how they treat us). I have an idea to talk with Mr. Gerardo, and I made it. I talked with him about the possibility to have internship in Syngenta while I am in USA, I already have my visa and I still have 6 months in USA, I only need to change my visa and document to change my host placement. At that time, I had interview with Mr. Gerardo and I almost made it, If I made it, I will have my internship in Syngenta Flower in Gilroy, California. In the end, I can't made it because the ownership of Syngenta was change, The Chinese buy this company, so they need to do rebudgeting for everything so they can't bring interns at that time. I was so sad, but I never lose my hope. My third broken heart is when I had opportunity to have internship to be Mr. Gerardo's Assistant for 3 months since June-August 2016, and I can't made it too because they didn't have enough time to taking care my document. My coordinator already did everything to make it possible, but we still can't made it. I was sad again, but I'm really happy too because I know that My coordinator of my program and Mr. Gerardo which is I consider as my mentor in horticulture area worked really hard to make my biggest dream to be a part of Syngenta become a reality. Even I already have 3 times broken heart with Syngenta, I never lose my hope to work in this company, I will keep struggle and keep improving myself because over time, my effort will pay off. Keep dreaming keep chasing your dream, Nur!.