"We are the only group of foreign students who participated in this competition. The Mandarin language issue was not a barrier for us to introduce halal foods, which we developed in our Taiwan Halal application," Aris Kusumo, a team member who is also the Manager of Taiwan Halal Marketing and Finance, stated here on Tuesday night.
"Halal food" refers to any food permitted for consumption under Islamic Sharia law.
Besides Aris, the other Indonesian students in the group were Faisal Fahmi, Himmatur Rijal, and Jiwa Malem, all students of the National Chiau Tung University.
The annual competition held by Taiwan aims to enhance the competitiveness of the industry, promote research and development, and encourage the younger generation in Taiwan to develop technological innovation and entrepreneurship skills.
The competition is divided into three categories: system integration, creative development, and entrepreneurship.
The jury selected Taiwan Halal as one of top three in the system integration category.
"We hope the Taiwan Halal application will inspire others to participate in introducing halal food in Taiwan," Aris said.
According to him, the application has received a lot of attention from local people and foreigners in Taiwan. Since its launch in February, the application has been downloaded more than one thousand times.
The application is expected to be a solution to finding halal products and services in Taiwan, and in the near future, it will be integrated with an e-commerce halal food service.
"We hope the application will help Muslims buy halal food in Taiwan because restaurants that serve halal foods can be quite far off in some areas," he stated.
Aris added that Taiwan Halal not only helps the Muslim community but also Taiwanese and other people in general who want to eat typical dishes from Muslim-majority countries, such as Indonesia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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