It is the upcyling project that turns old clothes into beautiful bags that bagged the second placing in the ASEAN Virtual Entrepreneurship Hackathon 2021 – 2022 recently.

Our awesome quartet comprising Morgan Mak Lee Ann, Dharvindran Sivalingam, Tharunaganesh Rosa-Singam and Pria Tharsni Karunanithi made us all proud with the 1st runner-up title.

Instead of discarding old clothes that keep piling up in the wardrobe, the Saito Business School students decided to cut and sew them into designer bags. That brilliant idea impressed the judges.

Under the guidance of of their lecturer Aini Rafidah Razali, the four burned the midnight oil to come out with the idea that they called The Eco Attic, after countless brainstorming sessions and discussions throughout the first few months.

True to Saito’s spirit, their desire to win and of course, the unique team work that Saito UC is always proud of, pushed themselves beyond the limit.

Morgan Mak who is into her second year in Diploma in Business Management said not all of them know how to sew but Pria Tharshni decided to take her mother’s old saree which has been lying in the wardrobe for sometime and turned it into a beautiful bag.

That was the catalyst. And the rest, so they say, is history.

Mak said they realised it is not so much on the money making but their effort to conserve nature.

“But we would like to pursue this when everyone can reassemble. At present, we are busy with our studies and I am due for an internship soon,” she said.

The four thanked Aini Rafidah and most of all Saito Business School dean, Dr Jenny Wong for their encouragement.

Dr Jenny congratulated the four, saying they have gained much experience from the competition.

“Hopefully they will remember this as part of their wonderful tertiary studies with Saito Business School and wish them all the best in their future,” she said.

“Studying in Saito UC is not just about academics. We always encourage students to take part in competitions and as history has shown, we have won numerous awards in the past,” added Dr Jenny.

For the record, Universitas Islam Indonesia won the first and third placing with their business plans called Handcy and Deaf Café respectively in the Hackathon which saw 12 groups from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines taking part since October last year.