The Brunei National Team vs Aussie Youth Team at UBD Sports Complex. The match took place this morning. Image courtesy of Izzah

The Aussie team being briefed before the game

The Aussie Youth team beat the Brunei National Netball team 23-21.. Great match

The umpires of the match. Izzah (right) is one of the umpires.

Cast your votes. Click image to enter Devin Kho Photography Page

Cast your votes. Click image to enter Devin Kho Photography Page

Cast your votes. Click image to enter Devin Kho Photography Page

Click Image to enter Devin Kho Photography Page

It was mentioned that Brunei is included in the list of top 10 countries that have improved the most in terms of the “Ease of Doing Business” among the world. I know some would have disagreed with this notion especially those who are struggling to get their businesses in operation due to the procedures from the relevant agencies.

This topic was part of the Brunei Business Forum 2011 and it was brought up during the panel session where the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Pehin Dato Hj Yahya answered the questions put forward by the audience and it was moderated by Shazali Dato Sulaiman.

Pehin Dato Hj Yahya – “We may be faster than ourselves previously, but we are still not fast enough to catch on what (pace) other countries are moving, with what we have done. If we move two steps, countries like Vietnam are moving four steps.”

Dato Paduka Timothy Ong – “There are two findings. The first is that in the top 10 economies, there are three small countries: Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. The second is that Brunei is not ranked very well, but is listed as one of the most improved. This shows that small countries, like Brunei, can be very highly ranked.”

Shazali Dato Sulaiman – “I believe that business associations such as Chambers of Commerce, YEAB and Women’s Business Councils should be involved in some of the SME initiatives and committees that were highlighted by YB Pehin Dato Yahya.

Year 2010 to Year 2029 has been designated the decade for the development of SMEs in Brunie which we were not aware of. This is to enable us to give Government feedback on some of their policies and also to give a ground level of assessment of the true position of SME’s in Brunei and what are the problems faced. We can also assist in giving solutions and ideas. What we want is a true Public Private Partnership where the Government is seen to be consulting the private sector with respect to policy and implementation issues.”

These were some of the quotes by Pehin Dato Hj Yahya, Dato Paduka Timothy Ong and Shazali Dato Sulaiman at the Brunei Business Forum 2011. Brunei is still playing the catch up game in improving steps on “Ease of Doing Business”. This is still one of the big issues here in Brunei and we hope the relevant agencies take this matter seriously.

Pehin Dato Hj Yahya and Shazali Dato Sulaiman during the Brunei Business Forum 2011

Dato Paduka Timothy Ong shared about Brunei’s improvement in the Ease of Doing Business

MIPR Deputy Permanent Secretary Hj Mohd Riza DP Hj Mohd Yunos and Executive Director of Asia Inc Forum, Stuart Kemp

Mr. Setiawan Purnamahadi, the General Manager of Butra Heidelberg Cement and Vincent Ho, CEO of HSBC Brunei

Rizan Latif and Alan W.K. Tan of @beachbunch

@harimaulim aka TigerLim was also there to take some shots

Steve McCoy, founder of Counterpoint (Malaysia)

Gwen raising questions relating to labour quota issues

Oz Ahmed, Associate Director, Wholesale Banking, HSBC Amanah Malaysia, giving some insights on Islamic Finance

Delwin Keasberry, Founder of @BruneiTweet and ProjekBrunei also attended the #BBF2011

The new Power Kad was launched at BRIDEX yesterday. Now you can buy prepaid electricity vouchers at Incomm and you don’t have to go all the way to DES to purchase your prepaid vouchers

The simple steps to follow for Power Kad

Once you receive the 20-digit token on your phone, you can key in the digits on the prepaid meter