He decided someone needed to do something to give children, particularly in Third World countries, ''a bit of hope and a little bit of protection''.
Mr Brough (19) is a second-year tertiary student, studying for an applied science degree, majoring in design for technology.
He is also one of the 50 entrants in this year's Audacious business challenge, the annual year-long student start-up challenge.
The round one awards evening will be held on May 28, where the top 20 ideas will be announced.
Those who made it through to the second round would submit a detailed business plan and later pitch their idea to the judges in a Dragon's Den type scenario.
Mr Brough has been designing a backpack which would be bullet-proof and blast-proof, protecting its wearer during roadside bomb explosions and terrorist attacks.
During his research he discovered there were bullet-proof backpacks in the United States, but they were very expensive.
The backpack needed to be very affordable and also very low-key so it did not attraction attention, he said.
The project was in the preliminary design stage and he believed there was potential for it to gain traction if it could get enough support.
It could be distributed by the likes of Unicef and other aid organisations, and possibly expanded into American college campuses, he said.
Being involved with Audacious had been an ''awesome'' experience. He had picked up lots of good tips and learned about what it took to get a business ''off the ground''.
He hoped to make it through to the top 20, receive some more mentoring and, at the end of the programme, hopefully get some support to follow it through, he said.
Audacious manager Kate Turnbull said the programme was going well, and about 50 entries had been received in round one.
Five workshops had been held and business coaches Paul Allen and Susan Sims had been doing one-on-one coaching for several hours every Wednesday.
This year's judges were Dr Jodyanne Kirkwood (University of Otago), Eva Gluyas (Otago Polytechnic), Steve Silvey (Powerhouse Ventures), David Frame (Craigs Investment Partners), Ryan Baker (Timely), Rebecca Twemlow (Firebrand), Emily Cooper (Silkbody) and Grant Cochrane (Oritain).
