Jothor, a student company from the Higher College of Technology in Oman, was the recipient of the coveted “Best Company of the Year 2014” award. The award was presented by Sharikati, under the auspices of Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Salem Al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, at the Sultan Qaboos University Cultural Centre in association with Oman Oil and Sultan Qaboos University.
Discarded date palm leaves can be recycled into soil
Eighteen students from different fields worked together to develop a form of artificial soil created from old date palm leaves. The leaves are shredded into a material that can be used either as fertilizer or for soil-free agriculture.
The executive director of Jother, Al Mutassim Said Al Harasi, said that,
“We developed a medium that works as an alternative to soil using farm residue by recycling it to start our business. We will use this prize money as capital for the next step in our business. Winning this competition justified all of our efforts and hard work as a team during these past few months.”