Naufal Hilmy Fauzan (on the left) and Arya Anoraga (on the right) with MASCOVITS products

ITS Campus, ITS News – The obligation of community members to wear masks when doing activities outdoors, caused a scarcity on the supply of masks in the market. Concerned with these conditions, a student team of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) is producing scuba masks (Protective Scuba Face Mask) under the coordination of the ITS Covid-19 Technical Preparedness Team, in contribution to prevent and avoid further spread of COvid-19 in the community.

Naufal Hilmy Fauzan, a student of the Department of Business Management as one of the initiators of this movement, revealed that the masks produced are not going to be directly sold, but instead will give donors a chance to give tangible donations. “In this case, we chose to employ masks because the demand is high due to the many people who require activities outdoors,” he further explained.

This step was initiated by Naufal along with other five ITS students, none other than five students from the Department of Business Management (Arya Anoraga, Dea Adivanessa Aura, Baskoro Tirta Nugraha, dan Nana Suliyana) and one student of the Department of Computer Engineering (Ahmad Syiham Akbar). The mask, named MASCOVITS, is presented in cooperation with Cahaya Kumala, as a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in Surabaya.

“This program originated from the many ideas of one business organization, It’s B, that was formed because of the Sociopreneurs course of Business Management itself,” Naufal added.

The sewing process of Scuba Face Mask MASCOVITS by ITS students

This student of class 2017 also mentioned that the masks produced are made of thick but not stuffy, smooth, soft, and elastic material, so they feel comfortable to wear occasionally on the face. In addition to that, this mask can be used repeatedly without washing it, instead just soak it with soap water.

“There are a lot of similar masks being sold out there with thin material and are detrimental for consumers, but we can assure that our masks are thick enough and we have tested its quality,” he elaborated convincingly.

Naufal further revealed that there are currently 1.000 masks in production. On top of the large amount of financial assistance from donors, ITS also contributed in funding this program. “If there are donors who want to order masks, they can contact the referred contacts and make donations in accordance with the price of production and the costs of shipping,” remarked this Business Project Manager in the Student Association of Business Management.

Meanwhile, ITS Vice Chancellor IV, Bambang Pramujati ST MSc Eng PhD, showed appreciation of this donation program implemented by Naufal along with his colleagues. To him, this step done by ITS students is a form of a social act. Along with ITS that is intensively giving assistance to the citizens as well as medical personnel. “Other than helping medical personnel, we also aid citizens in the supply of masks to allow them to accomplish activities,” he said.

Poster of invitation to donate MASCOVITS

The Vice Chancellor of Innovation, Cooperation, Alumn, and International relations also elucidated that ITS did contribute much to the amount needed to produce the masks, but instead contributed on the operational, “Huge portion of the funds needed is dependent on the amount of donations from donors,” disclosed this lecturer from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

In conclusion, Naufal hopes that with the donation f masks, there will be more people who benefit from this program, “Especially, we hope for an increase in people’s awareness of the importance of wearing masks in this condition (world pandemic),” he concluded. (zar/ory/ITS Public Relations)