| Danial Norjidi |
IT IS the right time to start a business, as the necessary mechanisms and facilities are all in place and it is down to budding entrepreneurs to be creative and take advantage of the opportunities on offer.
Four young entrepreneurs, who are part of a start-up in a team of eight that impressed in a business proposal presentation to Darussalam Enterprise (DARe), recently said this while speaking in an interview with the Bulletin, sharing how their decision to start a business came about.
Explaining why they decided to jump into the world of entrepreneurship, one member of the start-up, 21-year-old Lim Jun Hong said, “When I was working my eight to six job as a technician at an international school, I realised that, while reading the news, our economy and economic climate has actually gone down.”
“We need to diversify and I feel like Brunei is actually calling out to people to take advantage of what is out there, of what we need,” he continued. “So instead of letting other people do that, I decided to take the opportunity myself to venture out into the field because there are actually a lot of opportunities in Brunei that everyone can take advantage of.”
On how he and his team got together, he said, “We all sat down last year over coffee and started talking about the current situation. We’re all friends.”
“The more we discussed, the more ideas we generated in different sectors, and then the more lucrative the ideas became, the more research we did, the more strengthened those ideas became as well. So we came up with a few concept ideas rather than brainstorms and then we took one home.”
Twenty-one-year-old Afifah Syahirah binti Abdullah Soefri shared that most of them have full-time day jobs, with she herself being an architect.
“That being said, it just shows the kind of spirit that we want young people to have. We want them to not be secure where they are and to keep striving for more. We’re hungry for change, for development.
From left to right – Zainulariffin bin Abdul Rahman, Lim Jun Hong, Afifah Syahirah binti Abdullah Soefri and Lim Kai Woon. – AZROL AZMI
“We were actually having lunch, just graduated from the UK, and were talking about the Brunei economy, the downturn, and the oil prices. Then we started talking about how that would affect us as individuals, and not just us, but more importantly the country and the people.
“So the conversation went to doing something to diversify the economy of Brunei.”
“That’s how this whole thing came to be. From there, we realised that this whole thing is not just about us as individuals. It’s much bigger than us – it’s about diversifying the economy, giving back to Brunei’s economy, and giving back to the country that’s been supporting us our whole lives.
“I feel that’s what drives us even more – the fact that it’s not just about us, it’s about something bigger. I genuinely feel that.”
Twenty-five-year-old podiatrist Lim Kai Woon also recounted how the team’s venture came about. “In terms of how we went about it, it’s been a long process. We’ve had a lot of ideas, we went from one industry to another; we’ve looked into so many different things.”
“Each of us had a task. We each had an industry that we focused on, so every Saturday when we got together we would discuss about the idea, see about the pros and cons and which one is more feasible. In terms of how we got to where we are now, it’s been a long process but it’s definitely showing now and coming into fruition.”
Elaborating on why he decided to jump into the world of business, he said, “I’ve always been an all-rounder, so I do appreciate having something on the side as a hobby. I work in the hospital, so I would like business to be my hobby.”
Another member of the team, Zainulariffin bin Abdul Rahman, 22, is a project manager who said he’s never seen himself as “just purely a career person”.
“I’ve always been hungry. Sometimes you just need something to push yourself further. It’s that dream, isn’t it? You want to inspire younger people to become better. You want people to become the best they can be. And if I can be that kind of person by doing business and entrepreneurship, then that is a dream come true.”
Asked on why people should consider entrepreneurship, he said, “It’s the perfect time. With the oil prices as they are, the setting up of DARe, it really is the perfect time. People are having trouble finding jobs. Even I had trouble finding employment for a few months.
“When you start a business, the worst thing that can happen is you go back to your day job, if you already have one. There’s just a certain amount of risk, and it is worth taking. You stand to gain more by taking this risk than how much you stand to lose. So why not just take it and go for it?”
Asked for his thoughts on the infrastructure and mechanisms in place from the government to help facilitate the growth of young entrepreneurs and businesses in the country, Zainulariffin said, “I think there is enough – enough that they’re not spoon-feeding you, because that’s the worst thing you can do.”
“You don’t want to be spoon-fed your whole life, you want to be challenged in the right way and you want to get to where you are through your own merit, your own skill and your own determination.
“That is what DARe has really set up. They have set up the infrastructure to really help you, and in a technical sense and business advisory sense consulting you, but they’re not giving you a lump sum and saying go for this project. They’re saying if you can find a way to fund yourself, if you can make your idea the best it can be so that the investors will look at it and think ‘this is a great idea, we want to put money into it’, then yes, this is how they want you to pursue it.
“They want you to have the best idea, make it be the best that it can be and then the money will come to you.”
Lim Jun Hong was another to comment on this, saying, “I think more importantly, the issue that stood before DARe even began was the dissonance between the different government sectors. Our individual research shows that there was a disconnection between the different sectors.”
He said that, as such, the process of doing business was lengthened. He added, however, that since DARe has come along, it has provided the infrastructure in order to bring all those centres together under one roof.
“That’s why we’re quite excited to go ahead with business nowadays. The infrastructure is eased.”
“In terms of starting a business and starting to run it, DARe is the voice that we all have been wishing for was there before, in order to tackle the issues that were found when doing business before,” he added.
The four were then asked if they had any advice to share for other budding entrepreneurs. First to answer was Afifah, who said, “We’re trying to help the country to strive to achieve Brunei Vision 2035, and one of the things included in the vision is for Brunei to be well-known for its highly educated and highly skilled people, so that’s exactly what we’re doing and we believe that this is the right time for us to showcase that.
“It’s time to stop being comfortable and secure where you are. You should be striving for more all the time. That way, you not only help yourself, but everyone around you. You help the whole country. Don’t be too content,” she said.
Lim Jun Hong also had advice to share, saying, “At the moment, the important thing for us Bruneians to recognise is that everything is in place for you. You just need to take the time and the effort to go through with it, because DARe has literally put everything on your doorstep. All you need to do is take advantage of it and be competitive.
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions, but most importantly, don’t think ‘just Brunei’. You need to think internationally, because we can be the player that we need to be in order to strive towards achieving our goals and visions as a country.”
Zainulariffin also shared his thoughts saying, “If you’re not willing to fight for the success of others, at least strive for your own success.
“A business can take many years, but if you’re successful at the end, you’ve shown people that you’re good at it, and no one can say anything about it. Plus, you’ll have money.”
“The key thing is just to go for it,” he added. “You stand to gain more than what you stand to lose.”
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