Student tackles used cooking oil

We are facing an environmental problem. Nobody thinks of getting rid of cooking oil safely," says Mohammad Al Hajri, who recently won the first Manchester Innovation Award.

The award is an initiative of the Manchester Business School Worldwide. It is supported by the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development.

While the focus is mainly on recycling glass, plastic, aluminium and other products, Al Hajri is one of the few people who considered ways to recycle waste cooking oil in the UAE.

This waste product is currently clogging sewer mains when poured down the drain or polluting the region's deserts when dumped.

The civil engineer won a Dh50,000 prize and the opportunity to turn his project into reality.

The solution

Al Hajri's project proposes that waste cooking oil generated by hotels and restaurants be collected and treated in plants to create useful products such as car wax, irrigation water, fertiliser, candles or lubricant wax.

"Currently we are working against the environment. There are rules, but some hotels, malls and restaurants are still dumping used oil in sewage lines or digging holes in the desert to dump it."

Environmental concern

Al Hajri said currently there is no organisation that accepts waste oil and he hopes to tackle the problem while also creating a business out of it by building an oil treatment plant.

The 35-year-old, a senior project manager at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City, has worked on his project for two years.

He read about initiatives to treat waste cooking oil in countries such as the United States and decided to tackle the problem in the UAE.

"I want to make it into a business and get support from the Abu Dhabi Khalifa Fund," he said, adding the organisation has been supportive of his idea.

Al Hajri is currently doing his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Abu Dhabi and holds a bachelor's degree in management from Ajman University and a civil engineering degree from the Higher Colleges of Technology.

Building entrepreneurs

The Manchester Innovation Award attracted Emirati entrepreneurial competitors, mainly 30 to 40-year-olds, across the UAE with diverse business ideas covering manufacturing, agriculture, community and social activities, leisure and IT.

Sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council, the Manchester Innovation Award offered Dh100,000 in prize money - the first prize winner took home Dh50,000, second won Dh30,000 and third won Dh20,000. The winner also gets ongoing expert business support.

The award aims to help building entrepreneurs and business innovators showcase their talent and provide support for the best ideas submitted, with the skills and resources needed to develop the idea into a successful business said Professor Michael Luger, Director of Manchester Business School.

The winner will also go on a study tour of the Manchester Business School in the UK and have ongoing support in the development of the winning business innovation idea with advice and guidance from the Business School faculty and the Manchester Enterprise Centre.

In addition, the Khalifa Fund may provide funding and further support for the winning idea and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises may also offer funding and business incubation support.