A group of five entrepreneurs took advantage of what they learned in the “Technician in Business Administration” (TAE) course, from the Technological Institute of Costa Rica (TEC), and are now preparing to innovate in the market with a line of spoons and other edible utensils. Their proposal, with the Bio Bite brand, is to reduce the generation of waste in the sale of food market with a line of edible and compostable natural products.
These are young people who are looking, parallel to their studies and professions, to develop their own company: Tamara Arley (construction engineering), Heidy Corea (tourism), Miriam Cerdas (physical education), Stefania Espinoza (nursing) and Viviana Vega (nutritionist ).
“Once the Technician course had just started, they asked us to think of five business ideas, then five were filtered per group, to finish with the most promising proposal. We ended up choosing the edible spoons as the one most promising and that helps the environment ”, said the entrepreneurs.
The young women presented their proposal at the local TAE-TAC fair, in San Pedro de Montes de Oca, where they won first place, and since then they have grown rapidly, attracting the attention of various national media.
Now they are preparing to compete in the National Technician Projects Fair, where students from all over the country present their proposals. The date of this event is pending, due to the emergency caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Literally eat the spoon
“The project is quite innovative, they are edible spoons. We are trying to make a product with zero residues, that is organic, and that is compostable. It is 100% natural, it has neither chemicals nor preservatives, it is innovative, because in the market there are only biodegradable plastics that require special climatic conditions to achieve decomposition in the time stipulated “, they detailed.
The young women already are working with food technology specialists to improve manufacturing and ensure that they obtain a longer shelf life so that they can be sold in supermarkets.
“The duration of the spoon when one is eating depends on the temperature, if it is cold it lasts an hour, if it is hot, a soup for example, immersed in hot water, it lasts 20 minutes,” they explained. Based on a market study, the first product they are launching on the market are spoons with the following flavors: Cinnamon, Chocolate, Species and Neutrals that have no flavor.
“A lot of times you don’t even have an idea that all those things can happen and they force you to develop a product from scratch. The whole process of development of a company is known, from the idea, which is the administrative, accounting, financial part … It has been very beautiful, very enriching, it has expanded the knowledge at the commercial and structure level of a company and how to have a better entrepreneurship. Anyone with the APR will have an excellent resource for progress, ” Heidy Corea, entrepreneur.
