RMIT students tackle food wastage in Vietnam

Tiếng Việt

RMIT students tackle food wastage in Vietnam

A team of four RMIT Vietnam students has won the national round of the KPMG Innovation & Collaboration Challenge (KICC) 2019 with their innovative idea to tackle food wastage in Vietnam.

The team, Food Warrior was one of six groups from different universities around the country, that presented their business plan in a 20-minute presentation to a judging panel of senior KPMG leaders and industry partners.

Four RMIT Vietnam students has won the national round of the KPMG Innovation & Collaboration Challenge (KICC) 2019.

The plan focused on a strategy to tackle agricultural waste by turning it into fertiliser.

Bachelor of Business (Digital Marketing) student and Food Warrior team leader Do Hoang Thao Vi said her team put a lot of effort into coming up with an idea that both solved business challenges and helped disadvantaged households.

“Vietnam releases the second highest amount of food wastage in Asia, just after China, while there are 795 million people still suffering from hunger every day, according to Người Lao Động newspaper (2018) và Food Aid Foundation” said Vy. “By tackling this issue, our team highlighted current challenges, proposed a new business model and provided a solution on how to improve the company’s profit margins by selling excess food, vermicompost and worms.”

"[If implemented, our business model] will reduce fertiliser costs, support Vietnamese farmers, and improve the well-being of disadvantaged people by paying for their home-made fertiliser."

Bachelor of Engineering (Robotics & Mechatronics Engineering) student and Food Warrior member Hoang Van Phuc Trieu joined the team late and as a result, took on additional challenges such as negotiating with the competition owner to agree to his last minute entry.

“[We saw] new challenges as opportunities for us after I filled the technical side for the team who are mostly in business and finance,” said Trieu. “Taking on such challenges is an important part of growing and developing ourselves.”

(From left to right) The Food Warrior team includes first- and second-year students Nguyen Yen Han, Le Tran Anh Thu, Do Hoang Thao Vi, and Hoang Van Phuc Trieu.

The winning KICC team - Do Hoang Thao Vi, Le Tran Anh Thu, Nguyen Yen Han and Hoang Van Phuc Trieu - will represent Vietnam in the Asian final competition round, set to be held in Vietnam on 25 January. The team will compete against teams from Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. The overall winning team in the Asian round will represent Asia to compete in the final KICC World Cup in Buenos Aires (Argentina), with an all-expenses paid trip sponsored by KPMG - one of the Big Four international accountancy and business advisory firms in the world.

Story: Thuy Le