Saturday, August 16, 2008 Meal in lumpia wrapper wins competition By Nancy R. Cudis Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AFTER it recently inaugurated a building for the training of future seafarers, the University of Cebu-Lapulapu Mandaue (UC-LM) made another promising achievement.
A group of its graduating business administration students, who call themselves 12 Heads Corp., bagged the top prize in the first My Business Idol competition held last Thursday at the Cebu International Convention Center.
Twelve Heads Corp., led by Bernalou Satorre and Giovanni Roxas, went through the rigid four-hour contest that tested the wits and passion of eight pairs from various tertiary schools.
Economical
But it was the product of the UC-LM students—viand and rice coated in lumpia wrapper and called Lumpia con Humay—that won the hearts of the famed judges.
In its business plan, the winning group said it aims to provide “economical and nutritious food” for people who are on-the-go.
“The focus of the study is on the wellness awareness of people nowadays and the need for a kind of food complete in itself, which can cater to most people during these hard times, especially to people who are always on the go and have less time to sit formally on the meal table,” their plan read.
The start-up capital for the business, which was their school project last July, is P98,879.
Prize
With the P50,000 seed money they won from the contest, the group plans to sell Lumpia con Humay at P13 per piece, packed in a biodegradable material in a kiosk inside the UC-LM campus, where they could sell it to students, parents and guardians.
Their sales projection for the first year of operations is P3.3 million.
Tasting a sample Lumpia con Humay, contest judge Lita Urbina of Cafe Laguna said it was an “attractive and delicious comfort food.”
To answer a question of contest judge Gil Zaire “Butch” Carungay of Avatar Accessories Inc., Satorre said they plan to produce more variants or other flavors to continue luring even the frequent and regular buyers.
She also assured the judges that their product was checked by a nutritionist and is rich in protein, carbohydrates, fats and calories,
The other judges were Jack Gaisano, president of Vicsal Development Corp. and furniture designer and exporter Kenneth Cobonpue.
After the awarding, the teary-eyed Satorre and Roxas shared that they did not expect to win after having worked on their business plan for only two weeks.
Teammates
The two and their 10 other “heads”—Loubelle Duria, Joy Bragat, Marilou Bardos, Ma. Jessa Saligan, Aletha Grace Abayon, Sheila Marie Nakila, Mary Anne Collamat, Joy Christine Sumalinog, Leah Rebacca and Lalaine Abucay—went home with business coaches and professors Marlon Montecillo and Elviristo Reyes, eager to materialize their business plan the soonest time possible.
Bragat added that there is no stopping them from pursuing their dream.
The team from the University of the Philippines Visayas Cebu College won second prize while the team from University of San Jose-Recoletos won the third prize.
My Business Idol was organized by the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry as part of the Mandaue Business Month 2008 activities.
