‘SILOodles’, an innovative twist on the humble instant noodles, by the Society of Innovators and Leaders of Optimization (SILO) won De La Salle Lipa’s (DLSL) Hult Prize, besting four other teams, Dec. 5.
Composed of students from BS Entrepreneurship and BS Legal Management, SILO came up with a healthier version of instant noodles, composed of vegetable ingredients such as cabbage, carrot, chayote, and moringa.
Lileth Mortañez, Team SILO’s leader, describes SILOodles as “flavorful and fantastic even with the absence of meat and less sodium.”
Meanwhile, Sunshine Rivera, also from SILO, said that their project aims to address social problems regarding poverty, malnutrition, and food waste by producing a healthier iteration of instant noodles, a product that is affordable and stockable, without compromising the essential elements that make people want to consume it in the first place.
“We want to form a society where agricultural overproduction would not be wasted, where healthy and nutritious food can be accessed and that is still affordable, and to optimize livelihood within,” said Rivera.
On the other hand, Dean Jorge Bocobo, one of the on-campus event’s judges, praised SILO’s business proposal due to its simplicity and completeness.
“You guys [team SILO] did an excellent job on the business analysis [and] in presenting your process plan which really addresses the feasibility of your project,” Bocobo said after watching the team’s presentation.
SILO will be competing again at the regional level, after which the winners will proceed to the international level.
“‘Yung international committee will be conducting the regionals parang ‘yung best of the best sa campus maglalaban-laban sila for the title of the Hult Prize,” said Gener Matanguihan, the Hult Prize campus director.
Aside from SILO, four other teams from DLSL also participated. ULeaf’s ‘Crispinach’ and Rurban’s small-scale vertical farming system claimed the second and third place respectively, while E-Change’s ‘Sweet Roots’ and A-Rice’s solar tunnel dryer both acquired certificates of participation.
The theme for this year’s Hult Prize was “Food for Good: Transforming food into a vehicle for change.” The Hult Prize is an annual event that aims to transform students into ‘agents of change’ by challenging them to formulate innovative solutions to existing social problems.
