Turning Wax Waste into a Startup Idea, This UMN Student Wins the RI Ministry of Education and Culture Research and Technology Competition

Tim SafeWax saat mempresentasikan ide kewirausahaannya (dok. Kevin Tanex)

TANGERANG – After competing with students from various universities throughout Indonesia, a Multimedia Nusantara University (UMN) student team won the second runner-up for the “Creative Industry” category in an activity organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemendikbud Ristek RI) titled “Indonesian Student Entrepreneurship (KMI) Expo XII 2021”.

The members of the UMN student team came from different majors and batches. The team consisted of Bella Auditha (Class of 2019, UMN Accounting Study Program), Kevin Nicholas Tanex (Class of 2018, UMN Electrical Engineering Study Program), Nabila Amanda Azahra (Class of 2018, UMN Physics Engineering Study Program), and Ivan Johan (Class of 2017, UMN Visual Communication Design Study Program).

Students are expected to develop their skills and promote their entrepreneurial ideas in this competition. The UMN student team brought up an entrepreneurial idea called “SafeWax.” Kevin Tanex, as the team representative, explained that SafeWax is a start-up company engaged in social and environmental fields. SafeWax focuses on reducing waste by dismantling the waste disposal cycle into versatile and valuable products, especially wax-based waste.

“Our product’s appeal is that our products are luxurious and more affordable than the general market price of candles, which is very cheap for a luxury product. We also maximized the use of recycled, environmentally friendly, and reusable materials so that they do not add waste to the environment,” Kevin explained.

Anggota tim SafeWax yang terdiri dari Bella Auditha, Kevin Nicholas Tanex, Nabila Amanda Azahra, dan Ivan Johan (kiri-kanan) (dok. Kevin Tanex)

The idea to recycle wax waste came from Kevin’s experience going to church in high school. He observed that many of the church’s candles were wasted when the candles could still be reprocessed into valuable products. Kevin was then motivated to collect used candles and recycle them into new ones. Eventually, this idea was realized and developed further with the help of the incubation program organized by  Skystar Ventures UMN.

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“We were required to form a team so we formed SafeWax. With a team, the business’ goal, vision or mission can be achieved more exponentially,” Kevin continued.

Tim SafeWax saat mempresentasikan ide kewirausahaannya (dok. Kevin Tanex)

Kevin and his team did not expect to win the second runner-up when the list of winners for this competition was announced last Friday (12/11/21). He revealed that SafeWax’s victory in this competition could not have been realized without the help of various parties at UMN. This assistance starts from product review, deepening of presentation material, and maturation of mindset. Kevin and his team hope that from this victory, more people will recognize SafeWax and UMN.

“If the traction runs smoothly and the team has some spare time, we just have to go through the timeline and programs that have been previously announced. If the business grows, it is hoped that it will also open up job opportunities to reduce unemployment in Indonesia due to the Covid outbreak,” Kevin said.

by Melinda Chang | UMN News Service

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