Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister of Finance and Economy, with the BIBD SEED (Special Underprivileged Mothers Empowerment Entrepreneurship Development) at the atrium of the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE) yesterday

Participants of BIBD’s Special Underprivileged Mothers Empowerment Entrepreneurship Development Programme (BIBDSEED) will now have a new marketplace to offer their products to the public after being provided with a retail space at the building of The Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE).

Located at the Atrium of the ministry’s building, the marketplace will be occupied by participants of the current cohort 2 of BIBDSEED.

The new space will fit three businesses at a time and the participants will rotate to occupy the space on a monthly basis.

The Minister officiating the launch of the new market place at MoFE

The Minister handing out certificates to the underprivileged mothers under the BIBD SEED programme

The Minister trying out the lok-lok stall

The Minister trying out the spaghetti

My favorite of the lot – the Rendang, cooked with no sugar and no salt. Oh yea, all vendors use QuickPay and Progresif Pay

BIBD’s Head of Government Relations and Special Projects, Haji Mohammad Yusri bin Haji Wahsalfelah, said: “This placement will provide first-hand and real-life entrepreneurship experiences to our BIBDSEED participants. Through this marketplace, they will now have a level playing field and face healthy competition from established businesses who are currently based there. This can also be a stepping stone for them to grow further.”

He added being based at the new retail space will be crucial and beneficial for the participants’ development as entrepreneurs as it will test their resolve to apply their knowledge and learning from the previous phases such as pricing, marketing, communications, sales pitching to customers and promotion of their products.

“We would like to express our appreciation to the Brunei Government for their strong support and providing the opportunity for us to further develop the BIBDSEED programme. The programme is already a multi-agency initiative actively supported by the government through the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport.”

“The provision of this new retail space symbolises the huge support of the Ministry of Finance and Economy in collaborating with BIBD to empowering the underprivileged to become successful entrepreneurs. This also reflects our commitment and dedication to become the nation’s partner in progress.”

The launch of the new marketplace was officiated by Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister of Finance and Economy, who also presented certificates to the ten participants of BIBDSEED cohort 2 to mark the completion of Phase 5 of the programme.

Also attending the launching ceremony were permanent and deputy permanent secretaries at MoFE, BIBD’s Deputy Managing Director Hjh Noraini binti Haji Sulaiman, as well as other senior management and officials from the ministry and BIBD.