A business plan to take used fiki seed and coconut oil and use it to power diesel engines took first place at a social innovation competition in Utah USA Thursday afternoon, April, 5, 2007.

Motu BioFuels, a social enterprise that will begin operations in Tonga starting May 2007, will take used cooking oil, fiki seeds and coconuts from local Tongan farmers and process the oils into biodiesel.

"Biodiesel is a viable solution and it is going to make an individual impact," said Jacob Jones, Motu BioFuels team member and group advocate.

Motu BioFuels is a company that was started by a Tongan farmer named Pasi Havea who saw a need for social and environmental change, and then passed the idea on to seven BYU students who drew up a business plan for the company.

The company intends to address two main problems with this social innovation: alleviating the problem of unemployment and poverty in Tonga and giving an alternative to high fuel prices.

"We are very excited, especially for the people. We hope to be able to decrease unemployment and impact the economy," said Glen Havea, co-founder of Motu BioFuels and son of Pasi Havea.

Motu BioFuels took first place in the competition and received $4,000.

Once the company starts to implement their business plan they will continue to receive funding from a pool of money that was donated for the SIVC winners.

 

SOURCE: NEWSNET/BYU