The 22-year-old University of Wollongong student migrated to Australia as a 12-year-old because his parents wanted to give him and his sister better access to education.

Now, Mr Kurniawan is using his education to provide much needed light for people living in Jakarta's slums as part of the university's Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) team.

SIFE is an international organisation which asks students to develop simple, easy-to-execute business projects to improve life for people in need.

This week, UOW students will present their project in front of 26 Australian teams at a National SIFE Conference in Melbourne.

The winner will go on to compete in Washington, in September.

"We decided to focus on Indonesia for our project this year because when I went back to Indonesia I saw the poor living conditions in the slums," Mr Kurniawan, the UOW team president, said.

"People live in makeshift shacks made of corrugated iron which don't really allow light inside, because if you drill holes in the roof it would flood when it rains."

To provide cheap, sustainable lighting, the UOW team came up with a "solar bottle bulb" made of a recycled water bottle filled with chlorine and water, which is installed in the roof so when sunlight hits top of the bottle it projects light into the room underneath.

The team also developed "sun jars" using glass jars with small rechargeable batteries and solar panels to provide light at night.

Mr Kurniawan said his team planned to raise about $1000 and work with Indonesian aid and volunteer organisations to install their lights.

"If we can work with other organisations, SIFE will be able to teach local people how to install these lights and then it will be a sustainable project," Mr Kurniawan said.

"The basic necessity of light will allow children to study in their houses and to stay indoors during the day, and it will also help their houses to feel more like comfortable homes."