1st Brunei Online Forum kicks off today

Thank you @pigeonhole for the Q&A during the event #socmedBN

Click poster above to listen recorded audio streaming of forum. Guest speakers @timothy_ongTM @bruneiresources @keeranj @emmagoodegg @bruneitweet and many more

Click image to enter Facebook page

Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah presented a mock cheque to UNISSA debating team who beat UBD in the BSP UBD Green Debate 2011 Final for the university category. The motion of the debate is “The Media are more effective than legislation in protecting the environment” and UNISSA was the opposition team. Nurul Huda Sarbini of UNISSA (middle) was named best speaker. Photo courtesy of Vincent

Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah presented a mock cheque to Sekolah Menengah Sayyidina Ali debating team who beat Pusat Tingkatan Enam Katok in the BSP UBD Green Debate 2011 Final for the pre-university category. The motion of the debate is “The youth of Brunei will be the main driver of change needed to deliver the sustainability golas of Wawasan 2035” and SMSA was the opposition team. Abidah Syazwani of SMSA was named best speaker. Photo courtesy of Vincent

“Hello Alto” is the new gimmick from Boustead Sdn Bhd for their latest promotion on Suzuki Alto. Why? Because for those who purchase Suzuki Alto until 29th November, you will get the goodies from Hello Kitty as part of the package promotion. At the showroom, you will be able to see Hello Kitty stickers on Suzuki Alto but of course, the stickers will be taken out once on the road :p

Back in September, Boustead also had a theme involving Adidas and customers were given Adidas merchandise such as football, backpack, waist bag, sports bottle and an Adidas watch.

Suzuki Alto is quite a hit in Brunei because of its affordable price. So drop by Boustead showroom to check out Suzuki Alto to find more about the “Hello Alto” promotion.

The current “Hello Alto” promotion at Boustead Showroom

Can you picture me driving with Hello Kitty Alto?

The goodies from Hello Kitty

The Hello Kitty arch outside Boustead

They even have soft toys

They will serve you for those who drop by the showroom

On behalf of DeStress Bodyworks, a big thank you for your valuable support to enable them to celebrate their 8th Anniversary this year. They have prepared a varities of promotion offers as a way to saying “Thank You”.

Their popular 6-times massage for $108 is back and you may sign up to a maximum of 2 package from now till 30th November 2011. They will also be having a DeStress Open day 28th – 30th October 11.

There will be Free Skin consultation by Ms. Adeline Loh, Celmonze Beauty Instructor with 25 years of experience from Celmonze Academy. There will be free gifts and instant lucky draws as part of their celebration.

ICT companies in Brunei will now have better aid in terms of financial support for their company startups and help boost further the entrepreneur ecosystem in the country. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between AITI, BEDB and DST for ‘The Future Fund’.

This is a follow up from an earlier MoU between DST and iCentre whereby iCentre agreed to partner the Future Fund in a number of different areas such as, but not limited to, application to the fund, evaluation and incubation. The memorandum will define the framework within which each company will review promising Bruneian ICT companies and nurture Bruneian enterprise.

The event was held at the DST Headquarters yesterday afternoon. Present to witness the signing as the Guest of Honor, was Yang Mulia Dato Paduka Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong, Deputy Minister of Prime Minister’s office and the Chairman of BEDB. Other guests include AITI, BEDB and DST officials.

The Future Fund serves as a new early stage fund that benefits the founders of new companies and allows bootstrapping of viable business ideas through this initial funding. A promising start-up may expect early seed equity investment from $50,000 to $150,000. The Future Fund aims to fund at least 3-4 companies annually.

Now there’s more money/capital for you to make your ideas turn to reality

Representing BEDB, DST, AITI and iCentre and with their collaboration, the Future Fund has been made possible

A big shout out to AITI 🙂

Under this initiative, the fund is designed to create business opportunities for ICT companies in Brunei and provides budding entrepreneurs with a platform to test out their business propositions in the market. The Future Fund will primarily invest in ICT related startups to promote further ICT development in the country, especially in areas such as gaming, mobile applications, national broadband infrastructure related services, content aggregation and content production. Furthermore, follow on equity funding will be provided if the project is proven viable.

In addition to the funding provided the joint fund members comprising of AITI, BEDB, DST and iCentre will also provide mentorship, training and support to the companies in order to increase their potential of success in the commercial area. Funded companies will be incubated at iCentre where a number of successful ICT entrepreneurs have emerged from over the past 4 years.

“This fund will help to create conditions that will accelerate the growth of promising Bruneian companies through investments or technology pairing. This is in line with our purpose of doing our part for Brunei’s economy by nurturing promising enterprises” Mr Idris Vasi, DST CEO said.

Kwok Leong, director of iCentre said, “I believe that the Future fund forms an important cornerstone in building up the funding eco-system in Brunei. This fund will certainly help ICT startups with good commercial potential to realize their own commercial success.

He added saying iCentre’s role in the Future Fund, “iCentre is proud to be a key partner in this fund and we would be collaborating with our incubation program to help make this a success.”

Startups will also have the opportunity to leverage on all the partner’s advantages. For example, linkage to international network of telecoms operators, internet application and service providers; local industry players and international ICT entrepreneurs and through market access from the partners. Press release from DST.

Angel at the food tasting at Sri Lembayung Padang Restaurant. Lots of delicacies and it will be officially open on 22nd October. Check out RA in the next week for more details