HappyFeed Wins Food and Ag Category at Big Bang! Business Competition

As a child, I accompanied my mother as she sold clothes door-to-door to support our family. This exposed me to my first entrepreneurship experience and helped my family to fund my education as a first-generation college graduate. Inspired by this journey, I determined to create a positive societal impact through my own venture, which ultimately led me to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.

A Second Life at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management

After earning a bachelor’s in engineering from University of Indonesia in 2013, I climbed the corporate ladder in roles ranging from project engineer to business leader at multinational companies like Schneider Electric, ABB and Rockwell Automation. Despite my career success, I felt the urge to do more. Reflecting on my future aspirations, I left my full-time job to pursue an MBA at UC Davis.

Leaving behind 10 years of professional experience to enroll full-time at UC Davis was a major life decision. The past two years have been among the most enriching of my life, driven by a single goal: to grow personally and professionally to create my own venture and make a positive impact on society.

Coming from a corporate background, I was initially unsure how to start my own venture. Amidst this uncertainty, I found a second life at UC Davis.

UC Davis Graduate School of Management provided the puzzle pieces I needed through its courses, leadership opportunities, entrepreneurship programs, and networks.

Throughout this experience, I would like to highlight the three lessons during my time at UC Davis.

1. Running Into the Fire

At the Graduate School of Management, I learned to embrace challenges head-on. Whether in the classroom or through extracurricular projects, I encountered numerous business problems that pushed my limits. These experiences taught me the importance of confronting difficult situations directly rather than avoiding them, and I built resilience and confidence—traits that are crucial for any entrepreneur or professional aiming to create meaningful change.

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2. Learn to Unlearn

One of the most transformative lessons I learned was the ability to unlearn outdated mindsets and adapt to new ways of thinking.

The diverse GSM community exposed me to a variety of perspectives and experiences, encouraging me to question my preconceived notions and embrace innovative approaches. This process of unlearning and relearning has been vital in helping me stay adaptable and open-minded in an ever-changing business landscape.

3. Managing Risk and Dealing with Uncertainties

Managing risk and uncertainty became second nature throughout the program, especially during my involvement in the Integrated Management Project (IMP). Working on real-world business problems, we had to navigate through ambiguous information and unpredictable variables. This hands-on experience taught me how to assess risks effectively, make informed decisions, and stay calm under pressure.

From A Social Community to Winning the Big Bang! Business Competition

The final pieces of my entrepreneurial puzzle came together through the UC Entrepreneurship Academy (UCEA), the Keller Pathway Fellowship and the Big Bang! Competition by the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 

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In 2022, with my co-founder Davrina Rianda, a Ph.D. student in nutritional biology at UC Davis, we launched Mama4Planet to tackle household issues like food waste and child malnutrition. Starting as a community, we collaborated with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on a pilot project that led to Youth Food awards under Youth Food Lab – World Food Forum.

Focused on societal impact, we grew our social media audience to more than 18,000 followers on Instagram. However, it was during the UCEA in the summer of 2023 that we began building the business side of our venture.

Through iterations and validations, we developed HappyFeed, an app designed to provide personalized meal planning, child feeding guidance, and growth tracking to help reduce parents’ stress and improve children’s nutrition.

We saw the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition is the perfect platform to showcase HappyFeed’s potential. At the final awards ceremony, we were thrilled to win the Food & Ag category. The $12,500 prize will help us release the beta version next year, but our biggest win was the validation from potential customers, mentors, judges, and fellow participants.

As we look to the future, the potential for Mama4Planet to drive positive change is limitless. Winning the Big Bang! Business Competition has validated our mission and inspired us to reach even higher. With Mama4Planet, sustainable living will become an empowering experience for families. We are excited to embark on this journey and make a lasting impact on our planet’s future.

The future of sustainability begins now.