21st May - Boost for young entrepreneurs by Jacky Lim

The Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) hosted the "National seminar of Young Entrepreneurs in Brunei" yesterday. The seminar was jointly organized by the Young Entrepreneurs Association Brunei (Y.E.A.B) and the Resource and Standards Centre of the MIPR. Hj. Ahmad Hj. Rani, Director of the Resource and Standards Centre of the MIPR said that the seminar was important because the country's future lays in the hands of young entrepreneurs. The seminar was aim at showing young entrepreneurs the right paths to take.

The national seminar is also a significant in the Resources and Standards Centre's integrated approach to entrepreneurship and enterprise development in Brunei. Lisa bte Dato Paduka Hj. Ibrahim, Pro-Tem President of Y.E.A.B said that the association's mission is to provide young people access to a network of entrepreneurial experience and facilities and nurture an enterprising culture. The seminar is one step in this direction and over the past two months, Y.E.A.B's membership has grown steadily. All the association's members are young, below the age of 40, and believe in doing business in Brunei.

Uniting budding entrepreneurs 'Future of country's economy and business in the hands of the young'

BANDAR SERI BEG-WAN, SAT: The national Seminar of Young Entrepreneurs was held at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) in Berakas today.

Organized and sponsored jointly by newly-formed Young Entrepreneurs Association of Brunei (YEAB) and the MIPR's Resource and Standards center, the seminar themed 'Driving the Future of The Nation' was held to unite Brunei's budding entrepreneurs and inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship with-in the business community's younger members.

The four topics for discussion were 'Financing In Small Economies' by Chris J.K. Murray, a senior corporate and institutional banking manager for HSBC, Fauziah Dato talib who is with Syarikat Indah Sejahtera development Services or ISDS as it is more commonly known in the market, handled a session on 'Empowering Young Entrepreneurs through E-Commerce' while Dr Haji Ismael bin Haji Duraman, a faculty Dean of business, economics and policy studies spoke on 'How can Brunei Foster Young Entrepreneurs' and Haji Shazali bin Dato Haji Sulaiman, a partner with KPMG Peat Marwick gave a rundown on the steps to be taken 'Towards a Knowledge – Based Economy. Resource and Standards Center director Haji Ahmad Rani set the tone for the half-day long session with his welcome remarks. He said the seminar was important because the Center believed that the future of the country's economy and business lies with the young especially young entrepreneurs. "Today is a first step in putting our young entrepreneurs in that direction. This national seminar is another significant milestone in the Resource and Standards Center's integrated approach to entrepreneurship and enterprise development,' he said. He added the seminar was particularly important because Brunei was in the midst of preparations for the Apec SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) events from June 17 to 25 where a separate session for young entrepreneurs from the 21 Apec member economies would take place.

Aji Ahmad said the Centre has been promoting entrepreneurship among Brunei's youth since January last year and this eventually led to training programmes specifically designed for young entrepreneurs, which commenced three months later. He said that the two training programmes – the Entrepreneurship Orientation and Awareness Programme (EOAP) and the New Enterprise Creation Programme (NECP) – were going to be conducted on a yearly basis. Last year, he added, there were two sessions this year, there are three sessions. "One is currently taking place with 17 participants. The average age of our participants from the three sessions is 31 years old. "Indeed, the graduates of these programmes will become part of the new breed of young entrepreneurs of our country. "The Center has also been giving promotional talks in entrepreneurship and enterprise development to graduating students of business, management, accountancy and computer studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Institut Teknologi Brunei, Maktab Teknik Sultan Saiful Rizal and vocational school since last year. "The Center also believes that these students will also form part of the pool of new entrepreneurs in Brunei." Haji Ahmad explained. He added that hope to see more collaborative efforts between the Center and YEAB because it was in line with his intention to seek new and novel ways through which the entrepreneurs of Brunei could be better serve by the government. He said the Center was committed to working with the entrepreneurs themselves so that programmes were "relevant", "timely" and "focused".

'That is why when the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Brunei 's pro-tem president called me to organise and sponsor this seminar. I did not hesitate to say 'yes'. With this first seminar, the Resource and Standards Center is now firmly committed to nurture young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Brunei. "I hope to see more collaborative work with YEAB." He said. He also expressed the hope that this seminar would give you young entrepreneurs the proper forum to give their positive ideas and concrete suggestions that would promote the rapid and sustainable growth and development of young entrepreneurs. "I hope that this partnership between the government and our young entrepreneurs will provide further impetus in the country's economic growth and diversification drive," he said. He appealed to the seminar participants to take every opportunity to learn, interact and contribute ideas so that all sectors could work together to promote entrepreneurship and an enterprising society and culture especially among the youth.

Lisa binti Dato Paduka Haji Ibrahim, the YEAB pro-tem committee chairman, said the chairman, said the seminar signified the realization of an idea that was "set in motion" a few months ago. She said over the last two months, the membership of the YEAB has been growing steadily and has resulted in a mix of very different personalities and professions who have two things in common. She said there was a necessity for an association to bring them all together because young entrepreneurs were the "future business leaders of tomorrow" and that was the reason why most countries had initiated entrepreneurship programmes for young entrepreneurs." Some of the more notable programmes can be found in Canada, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. Even Apec has highlighted the role that young entrepreneurs play in the economies of its member countries." she said. Lisa said the association's immediate goal was to organise and register the association in time for an official launching in June this year during the Apec SME Business Forum. The YEAB is organizing a "Televised Town Hall Session For Young Entrepreneurs" on June 21 and a dinner for young entrepreneurs in Brunei and other APEC economies on the following day. She stressed that the YEAB's involvement in the Apec SME business Forum was very important because it allowed young entrepreneurs to air their view on a global level. "I personally believe that YEAB should represent the collective voice of its members. Being young entrepreneurs we always get told that we are too young or too inexperienced. But I think the benefits of being young are never ending Young entrepreneurs naturally catch on to what is innovative and inspiring have the drive and ambition to follow through with less conventional ideas and methods." She explained. She said that in the harsh reality of today's business culture, survival of the fittest seemed to be going trend and that YEAB aspired to capitalize on this notion and work together to attain success.