Oncom Drinks Bring IPB Students to Win Business Plan Competition
Three Bogor Agricultural University Students (IPB) again showed their achievements on the national stage. This time three of his students succeeded in becoming the First Winner of Business Plan Competition – S3 (Socioentrepreneurship Seminar, Social-Community Festival). The competition was organized by the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board (BEM) in collaboration with the NAMA Foundation.
The three IPB students were Fahri Sinulingga (Department of Aquatic Products Technology, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK), Alfurqan Nur Azis (Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Agriculture), and Syaiful Aziz (Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry). business "O'Shake Business: Beverage Innovation Business from Indonesian Oncom Fermented Bioproducts and Products to Improve Sociopreneur-Based Local Product Productivity".
"We created an O'Shake business plan. O’Shake is a health drink product made from Indonesian oncom extract and tropical fruit extract. What's interesting about the concept of our business is that we are trying to develop the Citeureup Village, which is the village of tempe and oncom production centers, as well as the largest pineapple producer in Bogor Regency, "Fahri said.
According to Fahri, the ability of the community in Citeureup Village to exploit the potential of oncom and pineapple in their area is still low, so that makes them moved to run the O'Shake business concept.
In his business plan, Fahri and his colleagues carried out community empowerment such as training in the manufacture of O'Shake beverage products that meet the procedures of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), packaging training and product quality supervision, and broader sales and product distribution assistance.
During this Business Plan competition, Fahri and his friends had encountered several obstacles. "We were contacted during the final. There are five teams that qualify, namely three teams from UI, a team from Undip, and us from IPB. We observed other participants looking very ready, both from costumes and presentation material. While the three of us came there on the sidelines of the lecture so that our preparation was very ordinary, "Fahri said.
However, Fahri said, he and the team tried to be confident and give the best at that time. "We talked about the area first. Citeureup Village is one of the centers for making oncom. How do they make the product, how can the raw materials be standardized. So automatically this product will be more trusted by the community and can go international, "he said.
The principle they spread is not looking for something bigger to make a big profit, but developing small things around us and helping to grow their products. "So we think our plus point is that there is already a program, there is already a place that we want to develop, and there are already examples of products," he added.
During the preparation of a business proposal, the team is also active in seeking information. They increase mentors so that more knowledge can be absorbed. "I am from the fishery department, I came to the Faculty of Agricultural Technology to ask Dr. Endang Warsiki, packaging expert at the Department of Agricultural Industry Technology, how good packaging technology is. I also visited the Faculty of Economics and Management. So as much as possible we can increase the insights of the lecturers at IPB, "he said.
Future plans, Fahri and his friends hope to establish PT. Oncom Craft (OnCraft Crop). "We plan to establish an oncom-based company that not only sells drinks but other ingredients such as oncom sauce," he said. (NIRS / ZUL)
