A group of seven Vietnamese high school students recently won the highest prize at the 2020 Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) World Cup with their initiative to recycle corncobs into crop products and animal feed. 

The team, named Cobtain, beat more than 10,000 students from 30 countries and territories to take home the first prize of the annual championship, which took place virtually this year due to the ongoing novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Cobtain proposed a solution for recycling corncob waste from the cultivation of corn into meals for cattle, pellet biofuel, and animal bedding products.

The team says that their products are of natural origin, cheap, and consumer-friendly.

“We had had to research, learn, and go on field trips for almost a year before the competition took place,” said the group’s representative.

In addition to the highest position, the Vietnamese team also won two additional prizes in a sub-contest on the 17 goals under the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

SAGE is a global entrepreneurship program that emphasizes civic duty and responsibility among high school students.

The SAGE competition is one of the program’s three key components, in addition to its curriculum and mentoring.

The structure of the 2020 SAGE competition required students between 13 and 19 years of age to compete in a state, regional, and/or national competition.

Each team had to present its business via video presentations and electronic annual reports.

A panel of accredited judges were responsible for determining the state, regional, and national SAGE champions who advance to the SAGE World Cup.

This year’s second prize went to a team from Nigeria, while a South Korean high school group received the third prize.

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