Click image to enter website and start shopping

Click image to enter website

Long stretch of jam around JP area.. Image courtesy of Nazeeb

Another long stretch of jam heading to Bandar through Mabohai. Image courtesy of @marul69

Royal Brunei Airline guys also participating in the march during National Day rehearsal. Image courtesy of @royalbruneiar

Taken by Zul Fadly who’s also participating in the march

Great view from the top. Image courtesy of @d_estralita

So will there be an airshow too? Image courtesy of @izan21

Taken this morning courtesy of Hasfaleela Hasnan

Taken this morning courtesy of @snrpablo

Taken this morning courtesy of @snrpablo

Taken this morning courtesy of @snrpablo

My media pass today collected from Info Department

Well, I’ve never come across an SME from Brunei that has a global reach up to Africa. Last week, I was invited to a signing ceremony between Crescent Sdn Bhd and ABG Multimedia Services (from Nigeria) and this means Crescent will provide its online Professional Diploma in Islamic Banking and Finance course in Nigeria. Awesome!!!

Now how did this all happened? It was from a trip organised by United Staes Embassy last September 2011 where they select 25 entrepreneurs globally from Muslim countries to participate in the Obama initiative. Hajah Salma Latiff, Managing Director of Crescent Sdn Bhd, was selected and she met Dr Musa Bawa Garba, Managing Director of ABG Multimedia Services from Nigeria.

The signing ceremony, which invited the Dato Paduka Awang Haji Ali Haji Apong, Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB), as the guest of honour. In his opening speech the deputy minister said that the signing “marks an important milestone for the local company” and its journey to venture overseas.

Congratulations once again to Hjh Salma on making it global and she also won the Asia Pacific ACT Awards (APICTA) last year where it was Brunei’s first win in the competition in 12 years.

The signing ceremony took place at the iCentre

Hjh Salma of Crescent said that they are fortunate to have a partner who believe in the importance of Islamic finance and appreciates that its implementation in Nigeria is a necessity for the country’s economic progress and development

Dr Musa Bawa Garba said he sees Islamic banking as a form of ethical investing, or ethical lending, where no loans are possible unless they are interest-free, and this offers a balance between extreme capitalism and communism and he was impressed with Crescent’s highly structured, interactive and innovative distance learning programme, the Professional Diploma in Islamic Banking and Finance

Dato Paduka Ali Apong was delighted with the SME joint venture between Crescent (Brunei) and ABG Multimedia Services (Nigeria) and he believed that BEDB has the “capability, capital and connectivity” to guide SMEs globally through innovation

Now they can load on Twitter, Instagram.. you name it

The handover of documents between Dr Musa and Hjh Salma with Dato Paduka Ali Apong as a witness

Graceful Lace, a group of 8 students from Year 2 National Diploma in Business and Finance from Sekolah Perdagangan is organizing an event which is the The Wedding Expo 2012 from 24th up to 27th February on the 1st and 2nd Floor Atrium, Hua Ho Manggis Mall from 10am to 10pm.

The main purpose of the event is to expose the SME’s especially the home based wedding service provider as well as the established names in the industry in which through this event, the various service provider could promote any of their new ideas, products and services to potential weds to be who are still looking out for the right wedding attire, wedding dias, wedding door gifts and many more. The participants joining the event are Nurhayana Enterprise, FM Bridal, Cits Cake, Zaren Chocolatier, Simply Sayang, DD Gmin Bridal Gallery, Kitchen Essencia and many more.

For your information, the event is sponsored by Hua Ho Department Store ,Insurans Islam TAIB, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam, BIBD At-Tamwil, Orchid Garden Hotel, Aneka Rasa Restaurant, Kristal FM and Ranoadidas.

It would be really grateful that the public (especially the weds-to-be) to come and visit the expo at the same time support the students’ event.

For enquiries, please contact :

Farouq Al-Qastharie Haji Abdul Aziz, Graceful Lace General Manager : +673 8689749
Nor Iman Mohd Isham, Marketing department : +673 7140803
Facebook Iman Mia