KUCHING: Sungai Kerayong in the Klang Valley will soon be revitalised, thanks to a group of students from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and Alliance Islamic Bank which provided the platform.
The students, Mohd Fakharuddin Muhamad, 25, Dayang Siti Herdawati Abang Hardin, 24, Lennevey Kinidi, 25, and team leader Norzafirah Azriah Mohd Fadzli, 25, who called themselves the Green Team, beat 10 others to emerge the grand prize winner of the Alliance Islamic Bank Eco-Biz Dream Project 3 with its social enterprise solution for Sunagi Kerayong.
As the grand prize winner, they won RM10,000 cash and the opportunity to bring new life to the river system along with Alliance Islamic Bank, the local civic authorities, non-profit organisations, private enterprises, and communities living along Sungai Kerayong.
The Green Team’s pitch revolved around the idea of developing a simple solution using BioChar, in a plug-and-clean filter to be used at wet markets situated at Sungai Kerayong.
This is to reduce the amount of untreated effluents associated with high chemical oxygen demand and nutrients going into the river.
The team, under the guidance of Associate Professor Dr Shanti Faridah Salleh said: “Our solution is inspired by the question of how we can help the Sungai Kerayong community. We focused on one problem rather than on many problems at one time, and effectively tackled it for an impactful solution.”
Alliance Islamic Bank Eco-Biz Dream Project 3 was designed to nurture forward-thinking social entrepreneurs to help create a positive impact on the economy, environment and community.
Said Alliance Islamic Bank’s chief executive officer Rizal IL-Ehzan: “The Eco-Biz Dream Project is now in its third year and already it defies convention. It is a social entrepreneurship activation initiative done in collaboration with academia, and this year, the winning project will be jointly implemented by like-minded citizens who want to ‘Do Good’ together and have a meaningful impact on the environment and society.”
The first runner-up was Team Monash Green Lab from Monash University, which won RM5,000 cash, followed by Team Aqua Plethora from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) which took home RM3,000 for its efforts.
The consolation prizes of RM1,000 cash prize each went to Team Sungai Savers from Xiamen University Malaysia and Team Adiwangsa from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Chief judge Yasmin Rasyid said it was remarkable how the project had brought out the best in the young university students in terms of creativity, teamwork and being business savvy.
“They showed amazing calibre and incredible positive mindset. We hope that they will find their learning experience at Eco-Biz Dream Project invaluable, inspiring them to someday become social entrepreneurs, and continue to make an impact in the world we live in.”
To ensure sustainability of the winning pitch’s idea, Alliance Islamic Bank has engaged local authorities, non-profit organisations, crowdfunding partners, and private enterprises for the implementation phase.
“Alliance Islamic Bank is committing up to RM200,000 to be used as seed funding for the implementation.
“Any additional funding required will be raised via our strategic crowdfunding partners’ platforms, Ata Plus and Ethis Ventures. We hope that doing so will help lend greater visibility of the project among communities,” added Rizal
The third iteration of the project began in September 2018 with an Ideation Phase that saw participation from local university students to come up with practical solutions to address Sungai Kerayong’s environmental, economic and social concerns.
The judges for the Eco-Biz Dream Project 3 were Yasmin, founder and president of EcoKnights; Rizal; Elina Jani, chief of strategic communication of Malaysian GreenTech Corporation; Robest Yong, founder of Innopreneur; Andi Suswandi Shamsuddin, senior manager of marketing and communication at the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre; and Giuseppe Taibi, group chief marketing and customer experience officer of Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad.
