UMN Student Team Wins 3rd Place at BMNC 2026 with Innovative Seaweed Business Platform

The UMN team with their faculty advisor after winning 3rd place at BMNC 2026. (Doc. UMN)

TANGERANG – Students from Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN) won 3rd place in the 2026 Business Management National Competition (BMNC) in the Business Creation category. The competition, organized by the Indonesian Management Forum (FMI), reached its final round on October 20, 2026, at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) building, Airlangga University.

The UMN team consisted of Peter Huang from the Management Study Program, class of 2024, serving as Chief Executive Officer (CEO); M. Faiq Hakim U. H. from the Information Systems Study Program, class of 2023, serving as Chief Technical Officer (CTO); and Mirabell Stacy Quan from the Visual Communication Design Study Program, class of 2024, serving as Chief Design Officer (CDO). Throughout the preparation process and the competition itself, Nosica Rizkalla, S.E., M.Sc., mentored the team and currently serves as a lecturer and Secretary of the Management Program at the Faculty of Business, Multimedia Nusantara University.

In the competition, the UMN team presented a business idea for an asset-light business-to-business (B2B) platform designed to standardize the quality of dried seaweed in Indonesia. The platform connects coastal cooperatives with processing plants through a standardized quality assessment and grading system. Through this model, seaweed farmers are expected to receive fairer prices based on the quality of their harvest.

Peter explained that this business idea is a further development of a concept the team had previously presented in another competition. This business model addresses the challenges faced by both farmers and the seaweed processing industry. Farmers often earn low incomes because buyers purchase their harvests by weight without considering quality. Meanwhile, processing plants face additional costs to re-sort raw materials that are still dirty or have high moisture content.

The business’s strength lies in an operational model that leverages existing coastal cooperative networks, rather than building new physical facilities. This innovation combines a standardized grading system with a B2B revenue model through transaction commissions and app subscription fees for processing plants. The team has also designed a profit-sharing scheme with village cooperatives to empower them.

Peter emphasized that farmers do not need to use the app directly to participate in this business model.

“Farmers simply need to deliver their harvest to the village cooperative as usual, and they’ll immediately be paid a higher price based on quality—without having to adapt to any app,” Peter explained.

According to him, this mechanism is a crucial part of the business model they offer. Technology facilitates the quality standardization process and connects cooperatives with factories, without imposing additional technological adaptation requirements on farmers.

In preparing for the competition, the team did not start from scratch; instead, they developed and refined an idea they had previously presented in another competition. Preparations focused on refining marketing strategies, managing field human resources (HR), and understanding regulations. The team also spent most of its time running question-and-answer (Q&A) simulations so they could defend their business case effectively before the judges.

The UMN team receives an award (Doc. UMN)

This process wasn’t without time-management challenges. The final and presentation rehearsal schedule coincided with the Midterm Exam period, while one team member was also writing his thesis.

“The biggest challenge was time management. The final preparations and presentation rehearsals coincided directly with the Midterm Exam period (UTS), and one team member was in the middle of writing their thesis,” Peter said.

These circumstances required each member to balance academic obligations with competition preparations. Nevertheless, the team successfully completed the preparation process and secured third place in the competition.

Beyond the achievement, the competition also taught them the importance of communicating business ideas clearly and in an easy-to-understand way. Peter revealed that one judge initially misunderstood their business model, assuming farmers would have to use the app directly. This taught the team to explain their complex B2B business model more clearly.

“From that experience, we learned that a complex B2B business model must be presented more clearly so that the audience immediately grasps the core concept from the start,” Peter said.

Peter noted that the team feels proud and grateful for the results achieved after undergoing a preparation process that lasted nearly two months.

“Of course, we are very proud and grateful because our hard work paid off during this nearly two-month journey,” he said.

Group photo of all award recipients (Doc. UMN)

Although they have no immediate plans to launch the business—as they are still prioritizing completing their studies—the team has prepared financial and operational projections to assess the business’s viability. They are also open to funding opportunities from angel investors or seed funding should the chance arise to develop this idea into a real business.

Moving forward, the team hopes that more UMN students will dare to participate in academic competitions, even if they lack prior experience. They say competitions offer an opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to real-world situations. In business planning competitions, students are expected not only to master the presentation material but also to deeply understand the operational aspects of the business so they are better prepared to face questions and evaluations from the judging panel.

By Manuela Salomonsz | UMN News Service

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika | Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen | Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. www.umn.ac.id