This year's theme of the competition is Entrepreneur Menumbuh-Kembangkan Kreatifitas Bisnis Mahasiswa (Entrepeneur in Developing Business Creativity of Students). Based on the theme, each competing group is given freedom to propose a entrepreneurship idea that is considered to be able to attract customers. ITB's team suggested an idea of utilizing kerupuk gedar (Gedar cracker) with some modifications from most of the locally produced products.

From Kerupuk Gedar to Notable Achievement

By definition, kerupuk gedar or sometimes called gedar, is a cracker made from rice dough flavored with spices and flavorings. In order to enhance its suppleness, some producers uses borax, a type of mixture of salt minerals, in the mix instead of the natural tapioca flour, producing elastic and dense dough. Previous research also show that borax is also widely used to make other kinds of traditional foods and crackers. However, despite its ability to enhance food flavor and aroma, borax salt contains boric acid which can be harmful to human health. Moved the problem, the three students were inspired to modify the content of borax given to the cracker so it is more healthy to consume. The borax substitute used by the team contains only natural ingredients.

Besides modifying the borax for health purpose, the team was also innovating through taste combined in the cracker. Most of the latest kerupuk gedar uses seasoning powder which is mixed to the cracker after it has been fried. Despite its additional taste, the use of seasoning powder is also harmful if used in large quantities. The problem also encouraged the three students to give a different touch for the flavor without using seasoning powder.

The innovation comes from added chilli when the dough is made so the seasoning is more pervasive and healthy for consumption. The chilies attracted the jury's attention by having four kinds of renowned and salable chili, such as rendang seasoning, green chili, balado, and terasi. The selection of these four kinds of chili is based on the improvement of Indonesia's traditional value so the taste is still known by people.

These innovations for kerupuk gedar, whose consumptions declines these days succeeded to attract jury's attention. From the sample used for the presentation, the judges considered that it was different from the other gendar. "The cracker which is produced can be said to be healthier and have a traditional taste that is rarely used to be the seasoning for snack," said Putri.

Spirit as the Main Motivation

After having a chance to qualify into the top ten out of 110 teams, the three students were told two days before the final competition was being held. This condition made the team more solid and passionate to prepare. The team's spirit has succeeded pushing the team to get the third place for ITB. "We believe that this achievement is not the end of everything, but the beginning of dreams. We are planning to continue this product to benefit the community, just like dream to establish a community development where there are village's people as the manufacturer and we become the distributor," Putri added as she was explaining the future of the team.

Translated by: Aditia Binowo
Telah masuk editorial dan distandardisasi oleh: Agastya Bagaskara pada 17 Mei 2015