By Azreen Azirinee Azizi
GOMBAK, 8 December 2017: Two out of three teams from IIUM which participated and qualified for the final round emerged as champion and runner-up in the Eco Biz Dream Project 2 competition which took place at Pacific Regency Hotel here on Tuesday (5 December).
The champion was the team from the Kulliyyah of Engineering with their project, Eco Paddy 4.0. The team comprised Muhammad Izzat bin Mokhtar (Mechanical Automotive), Muhammad Faris bin Mazido (Mechanical Automotive), Nurul Huda bt Harith (Mechanical Automotive), and Muhammad Fahreza Alghifari (Software Engineering). They brought home a prize of RM10, 000.
According to Eco Paddy 4.0 Project Manager Muhammad Izzat bin Mokhtar, their team members came from a different background but managed to form a team as everyone had the same purpose.
“We met together and realised that we have the same purpose which is to solve a problem faced by paddy farmers.”
Thus, the idea of the Eco Paddy 4.0 had been introduced focusing on a green comprehensive paddy planting system that produces healthy organic rice.
The Eco Paddy team had decided to enter the competition to endorse their idea and to learn from experienced people in the business field before they embarked on their startup journey.
“The reason we entered the competition was to see how business people would react to our idea and we wanted to seek advice from them before we started our own startup,” Muhammad Izzat explained.
The winning team decided to use their winning prize worth RM10,000 for their future investment in building up their own start-up business.
They have also been invited to appear as guests of RTM Selamat Pagi Malaysia on 14 December to share their ideas and aspirations with the audience.
The other team, TanahKita, came up as a runner-up in the competition. The team members which were all from the Department of Communication comprised Muhammad Amirulhisham bin Mohd Badrulhisham (Journalism), Mohd Nasruddin bin Mohammad @ Mohamad Nadar (Public Relations), Muhammad Ajwad bin Amaluddin (Journalism), and Abdul Matin bin Ruslan (Organizational Communication). As runner-up they received a prize worth RM5, 000.
The TanahKita team came out with an idea on redefining of crowdfunding system for environmental action and they have named it Eco-Button.
One of the team members, Muhammad Ajwad, said, “Eco-Button works as an option for customers who buy transportation tickets or service via the online system and include the 10 per cent or 5 per cent fees of their payment to support our mission which is to offset carbon emissions by planting trees.”
“We plan to partner up with giant transportation companies such as AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, Uber and Grab,” he added.
Three groups from IIUM managed to get into the top 10 finalists for the Final Pitch Out. The other group, Lucky Team, also from the Department of Communication, managed to secure 6th place out of 10 finalists. The team members were Azra Farzana bt Shuib, Norhaspin bt Ajib, Nurul Nadhirah bt Jasmi and Nurul Adilah bt Mahmod.
Eco Biz Dream Project was organised by Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd in partnership with Leaderonomics, Green Tech Malaysia, EcoKnights and Centre for Environment Technology and Development Malaysia to encourage an environmental preservation culture especially among university students.***