The winning team of international students in the competition included participants from six countries.

With their project "The Colors of Bananas," a group of students from the Faculty of International Studies – University of Social Sciences and Humanities – excellently won first prize – the most promising project – in the 2019 "Youth Innovation Competition on Mekong River Basin Governance and Development."

Vietnamese students win top prize at IYCGM 2019 (Photo: Nhat Linh).

The final round of the 2019 Youth Innovation Competition on Lantsang-Mekong Region's Governance and Development (YICMG) took place from January 22-26, 2019 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The competition featured 20 teams from six member countries through which the Mekong River flows: China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

The theme of this year's competition is "Green Production, Consumption and Social Development," and the group of students from the Faculty of International Studies - University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi (including Bui Nhat Linh, Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, and Bui Thi Minh Thuy) brought their idea "The Colors of Bananas" to Phnom Penh.

“This project started when we noticed that during harvest season, people mainly harvest the banana fruit and leaves, while the banana stalks are thrown away. At that point, we thought, why not utilize them instead of throwing them away?”

"From that, we came up with the idea of ​​utilizing discarded banana stalks to make paper, and from that paper, we would produce paintings to serve the aesthetic needs of society," Nhat Linh shared.

The project's primary goal is to address environmental issues and create significant social value.

To achieve this, the group plans to establish a social enterprise aimed at creating jobs for people with disabilities and those facing many difficulties in life.

Through creating paintings from bananas, the group also aims to promote the image of Vietnam, its people, and its culture to international friends.

When asked about their plans for developing these ideas after the competition, the team said:

"Currently, we are still in the process of researching to expand our product range from bananas, mainly because we have mainly studied and made prototypes using the chemical composition of bananas. We haven't considered other materials yet."

In terms of products, besides banana paintings, the group also initially made small items such as postcards and bookmarks... and is researching for phase 2, which will include products like banana ink and cosmetics.”

This is a novel idea, but since no one has ever undertaken a project like this or similar before, it will undoubtedly face certain difficulties.

Facing these difficulties, Huong Giang, representing the group, shared: "Because this topic was conceived by us, we encountered many difficulties in finding and researching materials, especially in understanding the chemical composition of bananas, and how to produce paper and print pictures on them."

When we established the company, we also faced difficulties in organizing, operating, managing human resources, and finances.”

Besides winning the top prize at the competition, the project also received significant attention and funding from the organizers for its development.

Sharing about the group's research process, Nhat Linh said: "During the process, the group received tremendous help from Ms. Bui Hong Hanh - Lecturer in the Faculty of International Studies and Mr. Bui Thanh Nam - Lecturer in the Faculty of International Studies."

The teachers were very understanding and willing to help the group when working with investors, as well as introducing the group to economic and artistic advisors.

Clearly, with a fresh topic and the foundation already built from the competition, we hope the team will persevere in completing their project, contributing to creating more jobs for society, especially for the less fortunate and those facing many difficulties in life.