UNAIR NEWS – Three students of D3 Medical Laboratory Technology Faculty of Vocational Studies (FV) Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) won as the second-place winner in 2020 National Business Plan Competition held by Universitas Negeri Surabaya (Unesa). There were Ailiu Oktaviana Sumarno (2018); Devi Murtianingsih (2018); and Tata Cahyani Ningtyas (2019).
Ailiu, as the team leader, explained that she and the team initiated an aromatherapy product of cloves and papaya seeds combination. The products are named Essential Oil Syzygium aromaticum and Carrier Oil Carica papaya for Alzheimer’s Prevention or abbreviated as OSCAR.
The product inhibits acetylcholinesterase which causes Alzheimer’s. Besides, these products also act as antioxidants.
“This product can be applied directly to the skin or pour it to an aromatherapy diffuser” she explained.
This product is not only good news to reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, but it is also an innovation for clove and papaya farmers in Sawahan District, Nganjuk to increase their income during Covid-19 pandemic.
Ailiu explained that her team did not hesitate to develop the product to the production stage. “This product is indeed made for business, and we want to market it in the future,” she said.
The competition was very tight, and there were 50 teams from various universities in Indonesia compete to take part in the fullpaper stage. Besides, the selected judges are expert in entrepreneurship.
Previously, the three students won at Moment of Civil Engineering 2020 in Bengkulu on March 2020. “We are grateful to win this national level competition. The judges are interested in buying the product immediately,” she said.
Ailiu hopes the products can be immediately marketed throughout Indonesia to prevent Alzheimer’s. Moreover, she also hopes that the new generation will continue to get new achievements. “Pandemic does not limit us from working,” she concluded. (*)
Author: Erika Eight Novanty
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
