Award-winning: (From left) Koh, Heah, Yew and Chow posing with their fashion bags made from durian leather.
WASTE is often dismissed as worthless, but not by two teams from the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Teh Hong Piow Faculty of Business and Finance.
Team DurDur took hold of durian waste and transformed it into Durra, Malaysia’s first modular fashion bag made from durian leather, a sustainable bio-material.
Team Powerpuff Girls, on the other hand, tackled food waste by presenting SavEat, a digital platform focused on redistributing affordable surplus meals while collecting inedible food waste, such as peels and bones, for composting.
Their projects – submitted for entry at the Alliance Bank Intervarsity Business Pitch Competition Grand Finale held on Dec 4, 2025 – won recognition for social relevance, innovation and commercial potential, earning them the Grand Prize and First Runner-up titles, respectively.
Team DurDur – comprising Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) Entrepreneurship students Yew Li Qing, Joey Koh Ming Sui, Heah Hui Yin and Chow Zisin – said the recognition strengthened their confidence in sustainable entrepreneurship.
“Winning this competition validates our belief that a simple idea inspired by local culture and waste materials can become a meaningful business solution,” they said, noting the growing issue of fashion waste and Malaysia’s abundance of agricultural by-products.
Durra, they added, promotes sustainable fashion through its modular design, which allows users to mix and match accessories to create multiple styles with a single bag, thus reducing fast-fashion consumption while maintaining affordability and versatility.
Reflecting on their journey, the team, mentored by lecturer Khor Hooi Ching, said their preparation was rigorous, involving extensive market research, multiple rounds of material experimentation, financial modelling and intensive pitch refinement.
A key challenge, they added, was ensuring the concept was not only creative but also financially realistic, particularly when projecting return on investment and market demand.
Inspired by the recognition, the team, who walked away with a cash prize of RM3,000 and certificates, expressed interest in pursuing future ventures in green business and product innovation.
For Team Powerpuff Girls, the first runner-up achievement held special significance.
The team, comprising Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) Banking and Finance students Summer Foo Sze Kay, Lim Xiao Rou, Wong Yu Qi, Ooi Wan Qing and Low Zi Ling, is approaching graduation.
Citing statistics, they noted that Malaysia generates around 17,000 tonnes of food waste daily.
“A large portion of this is still edible. Through SavEat, we hope to address food waste while contributing to environmental sustainability and food security,” they said in a press release.
They added that redistributing surplus food and collecting inedible food waste help reduce methane emissions from decomposing waste and convert it into fertiliser, reinforcing a circular economy approach.
Mentored by Assistant Prof Dr Chen Fanyu, the team, who took home RM2,000 along with certificates, said the validation boosted their confidence and strengthened their readiness to meet future professional challenges.
Organised to nurture entrepreneurial thinking among university students nationwide, the competition served as a platform for participants to develop innovative, market-ready solutions while gaining industry exposure and pitching experience.
