DAYTON — Give Lauren Dokes, Lori Hanna, Daniel Hensel and Anna Young a bit of sunlight and they will help build communities — and perhaps save lives.

The four University of Dayton students won the 2008 UD Business Plan Competition, presenting a relatively easy way to use solar cookers to sterilize medical instruments.

Their prize: $10,000 — and perhaps years of work to get the plan up and running.

Their goal: Help rural Nicaraguan clinics with sterilization needs while giving Nicaraguan residents — and others — a shot at making the devices.

Their social goal is tightly woven with their business goal. The group, after all, is forming a non-profit. Money is not their sole objective.

"I think that's a big part of why we won," Hensel said.

The group — which calls their fledgling effort "Salud del Sol" for "health from the sun" — does not intend to govern production with a patent. Instead, they will rely on a looser "creative commons license," letting others duplicate the device for non-profit ends.

"This is to save lives — why should we prevent someone else from doing this before us?" Hanna said.

Solar cookers aren't new. Rolling their prototype wooden box outside Miriam Hall on a recent cold afternoon, the students said it would be possible to cook a chicken right then.

What is new? Sterilizing medical instruments inside the cooker without water pressure or boiling. With slanted sides, reflective wings and a special lens, instruments within can be sterilized.

While that might be tough on a cold April day in Dayton, the students aren't dismayed.

"It's important to note that this is mostly occurring along the equator," noted Hensel, referring to Nicaragua.

The quartet's plan includes setting up a Web site to channel donations. And they're still perfecting their prototype.

Salud del Sol

Web site: www.solarautoclave.homestead.com

The Business Prize competition

The UD School of Business Administration launched the competition in 2006 to help teach entrepreneurship and give students a start in the job market. It is open to any UD student; outside businesses may enter if a UD student is on the team.

In the competition, students band together to draft business plans, overseen by entrepreneurs who act as mentors. A group of judges weigh the plans.

Source: University of Dayton

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