KINABOX

Led a team to build a farm-to-table meal service from scratch, placing Top 5 and winning Best Video Pitch out of 51 competitors.

Benguet farmers lose income because surplus produce goes unsold due to poor market access. Urban consumers pay inflated prices through middlemen and still end up eating processed fast food because healthy cooking takes too much time and money.

Brainstormed the concept, then validated it through research. Findings showed two problems that could be solved by each other: Benguet farmers had surplus crops with no stable buyers, and busy urban consumers wanted fresh food but had no time to cook. Surveyed 30 to 50 students, tested a landing page, and planned a pilot of 20 to 30 trial kits to validate demand before scaling.

The concept worked because it was selfless. Kinabox was not designed to profit from one side at the expense of the other. Farmers gain a stable buyer, consumers gain access to affordable, fresh meals, and unsold produce becomes zero waste. That three-way benefit became the core of the pitch.

• Lean Canvas and BMC: Mapped the three-tier meal ecosystem, customer segments, cost structure, and revenue streams

• MVP: Validated through surveys, a test landing page, and a planned pilot of 20 to 30 trial kits

• Business Plan: Full written plan covering market analysis, farmer partnerships, pricing, and financials

• Video Pitch: Created and presented the pitch, with the user handling all pitch deliveries

• Competition: Entered DICT CAR PSCX, advanced from 51 to Top 15 to Top 5

Won 5th Place and Best Video Pitch out of 51 competing teams. The project proved that a business can be commercially viable while creating social impact, and it sharpened the user's ability to lead a team, defend a concept under pressure, and pitch a full business model to judges.