Bui Nhat Linh, Nguyen Thi Huong Giang and Bui Thi Minh Thuy of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, won ‘The Best Project for Incubation Team Award’ at the fourth Youth Innovation Competition on Lantsang-Mekong Region’s Governance and Development (YICMG).

The annual contest is organized by China's Fudan University, Shanghai International Culture Association, Guangxi University of Finance and Economics, the National University of Laos, and Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

YICMG has three smaller awards: ‘The Best Multinational Team Award', 'The Most Valuable Issue Award,' and 'The Most Innovative Team Award.'

The young women from Hanoi won for their ‘Shades of banana’, which involved the use of banana tree trunks to create paintings.

The girls used the stems to make paper and created paintings on it.

"We came up with the idea for this project after seeing that people only use the fruits and leaves of banana trees and discard the trunk," Linh said.

"We thought we could make use of that part."

They said not only are their paintings artistic and help take Vietnamese culture to the world, but also promote green production, reduce agricultural waste and create rural jobs.

They have been thinking about setting up a social enterprise in which they can hire disabled and poor people to make paintings on banana-tree paper.

For now they are looking to make more products from banana trunk such as postcards, bookmarks and even ink and cosmetics.

A painting on paper made from banana stem by a team from the University
of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
It won ‘The Best Project for Incubation Team Award’ at the fourth Youth
Innovation Competition on Lantsang-Mekong Region’s Governance and
Development (YICMG). Photo courtesy of Bui Nhat Linh.

The award-winning projects will receive prize money for further development before they are able to attract the attention of entrepreneurs and other potential investors.

"The competition is meant to offer students a chance to broaden their international vision and to enhance their competency of global governance. It also seeks to be a channel for intercultural communication innovation and entrepreneurship for youths," reads the YICMG website.

With the theme ‘Green consumption and production’, this year’s contest attracted over 300 teams from universities in the six countries through which the Mekong River flows: China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

20 made it to the final round held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, including four from Vietnam.