RICE STALKS can now be used as alternatives to plywood.
This is one of the Ateneo-made products that topped the 2009 Junior Chamber International (Jaycees) Best Business Plan Competition on June 15.
Ateneo teams FibreTech Inc. and Jacinto y Lirio won first and third place, respectively, at the Manila competition.
The Jaycees is a worldwide organization that empowers young people to create positive change in the world. This year, it aims to motivate students to compose a business plan with a significant impact to society, particularly the environment.
Rice stalk fiberboards
FibreTech Inc. consisted of Earl Diaz (BFA ID ’09), Jose Augusto Arreza (BS CTM ’09), and seniors Sandy Tiu, Shereen Yao, Evan Yap, and Erich Hao.
Their business plan was to turn rice stalks into a cement fiberboard, which can be used for house construction. “We wanted to get that waste in order to answer the housing need in the Philippines,” Tiu said.
The team’s rice stalk cement fiberboards was an alternative to plywood, said Yap.
Their preparations for the competition included market research and making prototypes of their products. They had to present their business plan for a panel of judges during the competition.
The team was already content with placing in the Top 10. However, when the first place team was announced, “everybody was unbelievably noisy, surprised, and shocked,” said Tiu.
Hyacinth leather
Meanwhile, Jacinto y Lirio consisted of seniors John Aldwin Angeles, Ace Palanca, Ryan Pelongco, Noreen Bautista, Ma. Charmagne Celine Cruz, Tricia Lalisan, and Anne Mariposa. Five of them are currently enrolled in the School of Management Business Accelerator Program (SOMBA).
The team’s business plan was to transform the water hyacinth into a leatherized material that can be used to make designer bags and wallets.
Mariposa said that apart from helping the environment, the product also creates a sustainable livelihood for Gawad Kalinga communities. “[We’re] tying up with them and then teaching them how to create the water hyacinth leather.”
Since the project was already part of their SOMBA project, Mariposa said that they already had the necessary market research for export and the tie-ups for our bag production and sales. “We had already tested our wallets and bags and proved that they were viable and market-ready.”
She said that it was “very exciting” to place in the Top 3 of the competition. “Also, knowing that our panelists found our product innovative and unique really motivated us to continue our product.”
Different insights, one business plan
Tiu said that FibreTech Inc.’s advantage was that the members come from different courses.
“In our business plan, we actually need different insights, because [there are] experts in different fields are complementing each other and that’s what happened here [in the competition],” she said.
Meanwhile, Mariposa learned that “there are a lot of great ideas and scientific discoveries out there, but most of the time, it will need someone…to make things happen.”
“It may be hard, and there will be a lot of problems along the way… but remember that something that is hard in the beginning will be easy in the end,” she also said.
FibreTech, Inc. and Jacinto y Lirio will be competing in the World Best Business Plan Competition in Tunis, Tunisia in November.
