Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Business Students to Make Impact in Tonga

Source: http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/63926

Business Students to Make Impact in Tonga
By Casey Russell - 5 Apr 2007
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Photo by Nicholas Torres
BYU students present ideas for a new businesses - like using coconut oil
as a source for biodiesel in Tonga - as part of the Social Innovation
and Venture Competition. They hope to use the new fuel to alleviate the
financial squeeze on gas prices on the island.

A business plan to take used fiki seed and coconut oil and use it to
power diesel engines took first place at a social innovation competition
Thursday afternoon, April, 5, 2007.

Motu BioFuels, a social enterprise that will begin operations in Tonga
starting May 2007, will take used cooking oil, fiki seeds and coconuts
from local Tongan farmers and process the oils into biodiesel.

"Biodiesel is a viable solution and it is going to make an individual
impact," said Jacob Jones, Motu BioFuels team member and group advocate.

Motu BioFuels is a company that was started by a Tongan farmer named
Pasi Havea who saw a need for social and environmental change, and then
passed the idea on to seven BYU students who drew up a business plan for
the company.

The company intends to address two main problems with this social
innovation: alleviating the problem of unemployment and poverty in Tonga
and giving an alternative to high fuel prices.

"We are very excited, especially for the people. We hope to be able to
decrease unemployment and impact the economy," said Glen Havea,
co-founder of Motu BioFuels and son of Pasi Havea.

Motu BioFuels is one of three student groups that competed in this
year's first Social Innovation and Venture Competition. The competition
was formerly a division of the Marriott School's Business Plan
Competition, but private donations allowed them to form a completely
separate competition.

The other two competitors in the competition were companies called
Pashion and Troubled-Youth Rehabilitation: International Program (TRIP).

Pashion is the union of Palestine and fashion, a company looking to
create jobs and stimulate the Palestinian economy by selling jeans that
tell a story about the person who manufactured them.

TRIP's mission is to rehabilitate at-risk youth by participation in
service projects in developing countries. The first group of at-risk
youth will be taken to Kenya where they will mimic the life of the
native people. They will participate in a series of service learning
projects and cultural events.

Motu BioFuels took first place in the competition and received $4,000,
TRIP placed second in the competition receiving $2000, and Pashion
placed third, receiving $1,000. Once the companies start to implement
their business plans they will continue to receive funding from a pool
of money that was donated for the SIVC winners.

"BYU has so many bright people with a good conscience and a desire to
lift people out of poverty," said Mark Palmer, event sponsor of the SIVC
and volunteer judge.

The Social Innovation and Venture Competition is unique because it
brings together students from various disciplines across campus and
unites them in forming a viable business plan, but more importantly
focuses on addressing a social issue.

"There isn't a discipline on campus that couldn't get involved," said
Todd Manwaring, managing director for the BYU center for Economic Self
Reliance and sponsor of the competition.
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