V-Class prepared for anything – Mercedes-Benz original. Check it out at Jati Transport.

 

A rumour that circulated last weekend. Do be careful in releasing an information are not true. If you are in doubt of any information in relation to BSM, try and contact their BSM Call Centre 224 4739

 

Coming to you this August. Registration ends on 27th July 2016 (Two more days). Don’t forget to register [Click image to enter]

Are you ready for an awesome gimmick run? After two months of break, running events are back!! Perhaps this race is something more exciting than previous runs that have been organised. This is because of the items that runners are expected to receive as part of their race pack. The items themselves look very collectible especially the medals and even their running attire where a top and a sock will be given depending on your choice of superhero.

Apart from that, you can also pre-order merchandise of Batman V Superman which are available on their main website such as mugs, watch, t-shirts and many more. Hence, I would say there is a lot of thought being put into this racing event.

The closing date of the registration will be on the 27th July 2016 as well as the payment for the Batman V Superman Brunei Darussalam Run. As for the running event itself, it will take place on 21st August 2016 at the Jerudong Park Amphitheatre. Click here to go to the official website and register there.

The event is organised by Heroes Brunei (under Armtrix Enterprise) and it’s supported by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. All the best and I’m pretty sure there will be a good turn of this event.

The top for Superman

The top for Batman

The top for Wonder Woman

One of the socks (Batman)

There will be medals given to all categories. This is a sample for the 3.8 km run

Certificates to all the registrants

 

Among the attendees at DST “Social Media” Raya was the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports (2nd from right).

DST has been quite particular with invitees and all attendees will have to register their names for attendance

Interestingly enough DST hosted a so called “Social Media” Raya theme last week and it was held at the usual spot at JIS Arts Centre at Jerudong International School. I kinda like the venue though and the set up this time has much improvement from last year – more space to wander around and mingle.

As I mentioned the theme is “Social Media” Raya, inspired by the ongoing lifestyle tread of social media tools used for social interaction in a tech savvy society. You will come across familiar names such as WhatsApp, Google, Facebook and so on. Furthermore, the guests were entertained by a 6-piece orchestra (Malcolm and his friends) and I truly enjoyed the occasion.

There were nice range of food vendors, popular on social media and the one that caught my eye.. I mean, my taste, was the delicacy from @piasau.glace (must try). The set up of all the vendors were uniformed and it showed a simple nice touch to the Hari Raya event.

According to Radin Sufri Radin Basiuni, Assistant General Manager of Group Corporate Communications, the team enjoyed setting up the Raya themed event and it was a fun challenge to incorporate social media into the event. It’s also an opportunity combined with the spirt of Hari Raya to meet at one time and provide them with hospitality.

Aside from DST’s annual celebration, the leading telco had organised a series of Hari Raya celebrations including DST Hari Raya with Special Needs Children and also for Corporate associates from the Belait District.

Hosting the event were Awang Abdul Lattif, member of the DST Board of Directors and Suhaimi Hussain, CEO of DST.

Ah, the one I mentioned earlier… from @piasau.glace (instagram)

Great music 😀

Malcolm on the keyboard and I’ve always enjoyed his passion in music

 

Times Square Shopping Centre has concluded its 3 days Board Games Weekend on the 24th of July 2016. The 3rd edition of the Board Games Weekend highlighted three different competitions which included a Chess Tournament, Tamiya Super Series competition and Hot Wheels Drag Challenge in collaboration with different organizations such as the Brunei Chess Federation and the Department of Co-curriculum Education for the Chess Tournament, and PEMKAR Brunei for the latter two competitions. Moreover, the public were also invited to join in the fun in playing a variety of board games such as Monopoly, Snake and Ladders and Jengga to name a few.

The event ended with a prize presentation for both the Chess Tournament and PEMKAR racing competitions. Present as the guest of honor at the prize giving ceremony yesterday for the Chess Tournament was the Acting Director of Co-curriculum department of Education, Ministry of Education, Awang Haji Aziz Bin Hj Nayan. The Chess tournament consisted of 3 categories; the rapid category with 25 contestants and Blitz category with 78 contestants, whereby for the Interschool category, there were 9 contestants. Meanwhile for the Tamiya Super Series competition and the Hot Wheels Drag Challenge, both competitions were open category which consisted of 3 winners for each competition. Team Sakura was present to give out the medals to the winners for the PEMKAR racing competitions last weekend.

The Chess tournament last weekend at Times Square Shopping Centre

Open Category:
1st place: Mohammad Aliuddin Haji Azahari
2nd place: Pengiran Sallehin
3rd place: Awangku Hafidzon

Junior Under-14 Category:
Champion: Kamarularrifin Haji Kipli

Student Under-20 Category:
Champion: Mohammad Zekree

Veterans above 50 Categories:
Champion: Japar Timbang

Furthermore, for the Blitz Chess Competition, the winners included:

Open Category inter-school blitz:
1st place: Sekolah Menengah Saidina Hassan
2nd place: ST John
3rd place: Sekolah Menengah Jamalul Alam

Junior Under-10 Category:
Champion: Qadir bin Haji Norman

Junior Under-14 Category:
Champion: Kamarulariffin bin Haji Kipli

Student Under-20 Category:
Champion: Mohammad Zekree

Veterans above 50 Categories:
Champion: Leong Voon Choon

The winners of the Chess tournament

For Tamiya Super Series competition, the winners were:

1st place: Mohammad Asnol
2nd place: Zulfakri
3rd place: Mohammad Juntao

As for the Hot Wheels challenge, these are the list of winners:

Under 35g Category:
1st place: Mohd Johji
2nd place: Hj Boy
3rd place: Hafuza

Under 50g Category:
1st place: Dini
2nd place: Colin
3rd place: Colin

Under 65g Category:
1st place: Hafuza
2nd place: Ang Kal
3rd place: Jamri

Open Category:
1st place: Hafuza
2nd place: Ewan
3rd place: Hasrin

The winners of the Tamiya Super Series

Lastly, Sekolah Menengah Saidina Hassan won Champion for the Best School Award for the Chess Tournament.

The event was a huge success with more than 100 contestants present during the last day of the Chess tournament last weekend.

In the nearest future, Times Square will be having several events in August such as the third Lucky Draw prize presentation on 14th August and Family Time Out on 19th to 21st August. You may also find out about all upcoming events simply by following Times Square Shopping Centre’s pages on Facebook and Instagram. Press release and images courtesy of Times Square Shopping Centre.

 

Check out the V-Class from Mercedes-Benz at the Jati Transport Showroom in Gadong. Refreshments will be served today

The Champions of the Ignite Entrepreneurship Challenge 2015 led by @ghazi.jo (2nd from right) with his proud sister Izzah Jomari. The team presented their idea on a device for vehicles where it will send emergency dispatch on the occurrence of an accident or instant impact. This is a very cool idea knowing that rate of accidents in Brunei is quite high. Congratulations to team KreatifTech.

Hajah Hasnah Hj Ibrahim, Acting CEO of Brunei Economic Development Board (centre) with the top 3 winners of the Ignite Entrepreneurship Challenge 2015 and the judges. The event took place at Design & Technology Building at Anggrek Desa.

Open concept, yes!!! I love it. I believe this is a great way to share and give more exposure on the concept to students and potential start-ups on how pitching and presentations are done. The public will also get to understand the prototypes or ideas presented by the finalists of the Ignite Entrepreneurship Challenge. This is the 8th edition of the business plan competition organised by Brunei Economic Development Board and iCentre and it was previously under the brand name of “ThinkBig” before it rebranded to “Ignite”.

I favoured the idea that the competition only lasted in less than 3 months. Otherwise, the competition could get draggy as it was a few years ago. During the press conference of the Ignite Entrepreneurship Challenge 2015 back in mid September, the organisers shared that they were looking for validations and commercialisation of their ideas and concepts and not just focusing on Brunei market but abroad. Forward to the present moment, chief judge Soon Loo, local partner and co-managing director of Seri Venture Capital Management Sdn Bhd, commented that all the finalists yesterday demonstrated high quality of ideas but lacking the execution should they explore outside Brunei. It was also the first time that the announcement of the winners was build in a more suspense manner initiated by the chief judge where usually the announcement were done by the emcee. So I am happy to see new changes in the format of the finals of the Ignite Entrepreneurship Challenge.

Perhaps another obvious difference is that the co-organisers decided to remove the student category and allow the students from high schools, tertiary and university institution to compete among the big players. This competition alone drew 51 submissions during the preliminary round (48 for Open and 3 for International). By October, only 22 submissions were shortlisted. By November, six teams made it to the finals for the Open Category and 1 only for International. I’m quite happy that there were all new faces so it gives me a more refreshing feel. Furthermore, the average age of the team is pretty young and not all of them have business background to begin with.

Anxious moment for the finalists as Soon Loo was announcing the top 3 winners.

Team Neogene was one of the finalists. They centred their idea of geology and market it with a tourism angle. I like their idea actually and this can bring loads of revenue to the economy if proper execution. But it’s true what the judges said that it will take years to reach that milestone.

Jodie Lim was the first presenter yesterday. Her team Nurture Enterprise proposed the idea of installing solar chimneys and earth tubes in any building and by doing this, it will reduce electricity costs, resulting in the cooling of greenhouse gases. The chief judge shared that this concept can take off if they can apply for the IPO.

One of the most confident presenters in the finals. Team Adi Iskandar Basri came up with the idea of a “Skipping” app. That’s right. A skipping app where you can skip queues. He gave examples about those queueing in banks. I’m quite impressed with his delivery as he believed in the product. Even my peers were talking about it on the group chat. Perhaps the judges were looking for something more of a substance. Keep it up, buddy! #dontgiveup

@ghazi.jo and his team of KreatifTech during their presentation of the special device for vehicle in emergency cases. During the interview, he shared the idea of the app came about when his friend Syazwan passed away in a tragic accident end of last year. It was also the first time their team joined the Ignite competition and they were recommended by their friends to join. He thanked all the finalists and they all deserved to be in the finals.

The best part of the finals is that the public was more than welcome to watch it live through webcam. The audience watched the whole presentation at the auditorium room. I hope this trend will continue for next year’s Ignite. Good job, BEDB!!

From what I can see is that “Ignite” is aiming to aspire the public that any idea that you have in mind can be made possible. It’s not about the winning the competition. It’s about embarking the journey of embracing your ideas and experiencing the process – writing an executive summary, creating a team, running surveys and focus groups, attending workshops and learn from seasoned mentors, creating presentation slides, pitching your ideas, networking and there are just many possibilities that you can learn by just participating Ignite Entrepreneurship Challenge. The biggest value that I learn from this competition is the value of courage and I applaud to all the 51 teams that submitted their business ideas to the organisers.

Even Soo Loo commented that it’s not about winning or losing. He experienced of not being placed in a business competition but his idea materialised in the real business environment and it has become a success. The same can be said for PHMD MindPlus who came 3rd in Ignite Open Category 2012 and now their expanding operations in Indonesia. So to the other finalists who weren’t placed, do not be discouraged. You all did the best you could yesterday and I was impressed by all the presenters, even with their ideas. Who knows you can apply for grants in BEDB or AITI and you can turn your ideas or prototypes into reality. So don’t feel defeated but feel appreciative and honoured because you made this far.

Thank you, BEDB for giving me this opportunity to watch all the finalists and I’m pretty sure those who showed up yesterday felt privileged to witness all the presenters.

The prizes were presented by Hajah Hasnah Hj Ibrahim, Acting CEO of Brunei Economic Development Board.

Jamie Liu of Inncee (Singapore) was the only team that made it to the finals in the International Category. Her company provides analytical services to help businesses improve their revenue by gaining data. They have simulated one of the businesses in Singapore. Well done on winning the International category.

Team Guru consists of two awesome tennis players who came up with the idea of connecting coaches/trainers to sport enthusiasts through means of the Guru apps. They also joined the competition because it was an idea they had in mind for a long time but never materialised. So what a way to introduce their idea through the Ignite competition. Is this app doable in Brunei? I would believe so with proper implementation and marketing strategy. Keep it up, ladies!! Proud of you!!

The Runner up for the Ignite Entrepreneurship Challenge 2015 – Team Nurture Enterprise and they received BND 15,000

The winner of the International Category with BND 10,000 – Team Inncee

The 2nd runner up, Team NewGate Plus, who won BND 10,000. They are now heading in Malaysia as they were selected to represent Brunei in the ASEAN Impact Challenge 2015 in Kuala Lumpur and guess what? They are now in KL for the event. They came up with a noble cause app that ensures that there is enough supply and demand of blood storage for the community. The judges shared that they scored the highest for social impact but will need a strong support from the Ministry of Health to make this app sustainable in a long run. Good luck in KL and congratulations in finishing Top 3.

Zharul Ghazi Jomari and his team, Kreatif Tech, received the winning prize of BND 25,000 from Hajah Hasnah Hj Ibrahim, Acting CEO of Brunei Economic Development Board.

The most enterprising judge that I’ve come across and Soon Loo has given a different dimension in the judging department. He is one busy man who travels at least a few times in a month alone and he claimed that he doesn’t even have a frequent fly programme. His biggest milestone or one of them is was being awarded the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World award in 2013.

All is not lost for other finalists as local SMES still want to engage with participants on their ideas. Here we see Mr. Ang of 3G Media talking to one of the finalists of the Guru App mobile application.

Radi El Fassed, Acting Head of Product Development, Progresif Cellular Sdn Bhd, was amazed with the presenters and hope to work with some of the finalists for future opportunities. He was one of the judges of the Ignite Entrepreneurship Challenge 2015

A Singaporean lady giving some tips to the Neogene team.