| Azlan Othman |
LELA Suhaili from DARe (Darussalam Enterprise)said it wants to see the Brunei economic and business sectors go beyond the Sultanate to promote GDP growth and export activities.
Asean with a population of 600 million is an immediate potential for us where Halal branding is a lucrative business opportunity along with construction, logistics and ICT.
She was speaking to officers from the Singapore-based Asean Food and Beverage Alliance (AFBA) yesterday led by its Director, Siti Noorbaiyah binti Abdul Malik.
“Through foreign direct investments (FDIs), we want to create more job opportunities for locals and more spin off opportunities. We are also working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to leverage on the existing trade agreements.”
Besides traditional funding from banks, Brunei is also eyeing alternative sources of funding for local SMEs like crowd funding, private equity and venture capital to further strengthen their financial based, she added.
Lela said DARe received over 500 complaints that hinder the development of SME businesses in the country where by 87 per cent have been resolved with the cooperation of relevant agencies. This would also help to raise the Sultanate’s World Bank Ease of Doing Business (EODB) ranking.
“We run SME dialogues and focus groups. About 17 sessions have been conducted so far with over 1,000 participants involved. It is a good platform to iron-out issues that they are facing,” Lela added.
The AFBA director is here to support the local SMEs and businesses looking for the establishment of food and beverage association in this country.
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